


TALKS J TfZ 






OR,./ 



TO FARMERS. 



BY 



REV. CHARLES H: SPURGEON. 



New York : 

FUNK & WAGNALLS, PUBLISHERS, 

10 and 12 Dey Street. 

1882. 



5^ r 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



The Sluggard's Farm, - 

The Broken Fence, - 

Frost and Thaw, 

The Corn of Wheat Dying to bring forth Fruit, 

The Ploughman, - 

Ploughing the Rock, ----- 

The Parable of the Sower, 

The Principal Wheat, ----- 

Spring in the Heart, - 

Farm Laborers, ------ 

What the Farm Laborers can do, and what they 
cannot do, - - - - - - 164 

The Sheep before the Shearers, - - - 181 

In the Hay-Field, - - - - - - 196 

The Joy of Harvest, - - - - 211 

Spiritual Gleaning, - - - - - 226 

Meal-Time in the Cornfields, - - - 241 

The Loaded Wagon, - - - - - 258 

Threshing, ------ 275 

Wheat in the Barn, - - - - - 290 



PAGE 
I 

24 

- 39 
56 

- 7i 
88 

- 103 
118 

- 132 
149 




TALKS TO FARMERS. 



THE SLUGGARD'S FARM. 

" I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void 
of understanding ; And, lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had 
covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down. Then I 
saw, and considered it well : I looked upon it, and received instruction." — 
Proverbs 24 : 30-32. 

No doubt Solomon was sometimes glad to lay aside 
the robes of state, escape from the forms of court, and 
go through the country unknown. On one occasion, 
when he was doing so, he looked over the broken wall 
of a little estate which belonged to a farmer of his 
country. This estate consisted of a piece of ploughed 
land and a vineyard. One glance showed him that it was 
owned by a sluggard, who neglected it, for the weeds 
had grown right plentifully and covered all the face of 
the ground. From this Solomon gathered instruction. 
Men generally learn wisdom if they have wisdom. 
The artist's eye sees the beauty of the landscape because 
he has beauty in his mind. " To him that hath shall 
be given," and he shall have abundance, for he shall 
reap a harvest even from the field that is covered with 
thorns and nettles. There is a great difference between 
one man and another in the use of the mind's eye. I 



2 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

have a book entitled, " The Harvest of a Quiet Eye," 
and a good book it is : the harvest of a quiet eye can be 
gathered from a sluggard's land as well as from a well- 
managed farm. When we were boys we were taught a 
little poem, called, " Eyes and no Eyes," and there was 
much of truth in it, for some people have eyes and see 
not, which is much the same as having no eyes ; while 
others have quick eyes for spying out instruction. Some 
look only at the surface, while others see not only the 
outside shell but the living kernel of truth which is hid- 
den in all outward things. 

We may find instructio7i everywhere. To a spiritual 
mind nettles have their use, and weeds have their doc- 
trine. Are not all thorns and thistles meant to be 
teachers to sinful men ? Are they not brought forth of 
the earth on purpose that they may show us what sin 
has done, and the kind of produce that will come 
when we sow the seed of rebellion against God ? "I 
went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of 
the man void of understanding, ' ' says Solomon ; ' ' I saw, 
and considered it w T ell : I looked upon it, and received 
instruction." Whatever you see, take care to consider 
it well, and you will not see it in vain. You shall find 
books and sermons everywhere, in the land and in the 
sea, in the earth and in the skies, and you shall learn 
from every living beast, and bird, and fish, and insect, 
and from every useful or useless plant that springs out 
of the ground. 

We may also gather rare lessons from things that we do 
not like. I am sure that Solomon did not in the least 
degree admire the thorns and the nettles that covered 
the face of the vineyard, but he nevertheless found in- 
struction in them. Many are stung by nettles, but few 



THE SLUGGARD S FARM. 3 

are taught by them. Some men are hurt by briers, but 
here is one who was improved by them. Wisdom hath 
a way of gathering grapes of thorns and figs of nettles, 
and she distils good from herbs which in themselves 
are noisome and evil. Do not fret, therefore, over 
thorns, but get good out of them. Do not begin sting- 
ing yourself with nettles, grip them firmly, and then use 
them for your soul's health. Trials and troubles, worries 
and turmoils, little frets and little disappointments, may 
all help you if you will. Like Solomon, see and con- 
sider them well — look upon them, and receive instruc- 
tion. 

As for us, we will now, first, consider Solomon 's de- 
scription of a sluggard : he is " a man void of understand- 
ing "; secondly, w T e shall notice his description of the slug- 
gard's land : " it was all grown over with thorns, and 
nettles had covered the face thereof." When we have 
attended to these two matters we will close by endeav- 
oring to gather the instruction which this piece of waste ground 
may yield us. 

First, think of Solomon's description of a slothful 
man. Solomon was a man whom none of us would 
contradict, for he knew as much as all of us put to- 
gether ; and besides that, he was under divine inspira- 
tion when he wrote this Book of Proverbs. Solomon 
says, a sluggard is " a man void of understanding." 
The slothful does not think so; he puts his hands in his 
pockets, and you would think from his important air 
that he had all the Bank of England at his disposal. 
You can see that he is a very wise man in his own 
esteem, for he gives himself airs which are meant to 
impress you with a sense of his superior abilities. How 
he has come by his wisdom it would be hard to say. 



4 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

He has never taken the trouble to think, and yet I dare 
not say that he jumps at his conclusions, because he 
never does such a thing as jump, he lies down and rolls 
into a conclusion. Yet he knows everything, and has 
settled all points : meditation is too hard work for him, 
and learning he never could endure ; but to be clever by 
nature is his delight. ^ He does not want to know more 
than he knows, for he knows enough already, and yet 
he knows nothing. The proverb is not complimentary 
to him, but I am certain that Solomon was right when 
he called him " a man void of understanding." Solo- 
mon was rather rude according to the dainty manners of 
the present times, because this gentleman had a field and 
a vineyard, and as Poor Richard saith, " When I have 
a horse and a cow every man biddeth me good morrow . ' ' 
How can a man be void of understanding who has a 
field and a vineyard ? Is it not generally understood 
that you must measure a man's understanding by the 
amount of his ready cash ? At all events you shall soon 
be flattered for your attainments if you have attained 
unto wealth. Such is the way of the world, but such is 
not the way of Scripture. Whether he has a field and a 
vineyard or not, says Solomon, if he is a sluggard he 
is a fool, or if you would like to see his name written 
out a little larger, he is a man empty of understanding. 
Not only does he not understand anything, but he has 
no understanding to understand with. He is empty- 
headed if he is a sluggard. He may be called a gentle- 
man, he may be a landed proprietor, he may have a 
vineyard and a field ; but he is none the better for what 
he has : nay, he is so much the worse, because he is a 
man void of understanding, and is therefore unable to 
make use of his property. 



THE SLUGGARD S FARM. 5 

1— I am glad to be told by Solomon so plainly that a 
slothful man is void of understanding, for it is useful 
information. I have met with persons who thought they 
perfectly understood the doctrines of grace, who could 
accurately set forth the election of the saints, the pre- 
destination of God, the firmness of the divine decree, 
the necessity of the Spirit's work, and all the glorious 
doctrines of grace which build up the fabric of our faith ; 
but these gentlemen have inferred from these doctrines 
that they have to do nothing, and thus they have become 
sluggards. Do-nothingism is their creed. They will 
not even urge other people to labor for the Lord, be- 
cause, say they, " God will do his own work. Salvation 
is all of grace !" The notion of these sluggards is that 
a man is to wait, and do nothing ; he is to sit still, and 
let the grass grow up to his ankles in the hope of heav- 
enly help. To arouse himself would be an interference 
with the eternal purpose, which he regards as altogether 
unwarrantable. I have known him look sour, shake his 
aged head, and say hard things against earnest people 
who were trying to win souls. I have known him run 
down young people, and like a great steam ram, sink 
them to the bottom, by calling them unsound and igno- 
rant. How shall we survive the censures of this dogmatic 
person ? How shall we escape from this very knowing and 
very captious sluggard ? Solomon hastens to the rescue 
and extinguishes this gentleman by informing us that he 
is void of understanding. Why, he is the standard of 
orthodoxy, and he judges everybody ! Yet Solomon ap- 
plies another standard to him, and says he is void of un- 
derstanding. He may know the doctrine, but he does 
not understand it ; or else he would know that the doc- 
trines of grace lead us to seek the grace of the doctrines ; 



TALKS TO FARMERS. 



and that when we see God at work we learn that he 
worketh in us, not to make us go to sleep, but to will 
and to do of his own good pleasure. God's predestina- 
tion of a people is his ordaining them unto good works 
that they may show forth his praise. So, if you or I 
'shall from any doctrines, however true, draw the infer- 
ence that we are warranted in being idle and indifferent 
about the things of God, we are void of understanding ; 
we are acting like fools ; we are misusing the gospel ; 
we are taking what was meant for meat and turning it 
into poison. The sluggard, whether he is sluggish 
about his business or about his soul, is a man void of 
understanding. 

As a rule we may measure a man's understanding 
by his useful activities ; this is what the wise man very 
plainly tells us. Certain persons call themselves " cul- 
tured, ' ' and yet they cultivate nothing. Modern thought, 
as far as I have seen anything of its actual working, is 
a bottle of smoke, out of which comes nothing solid ; 
yet we know men who can distinguish and divide, de- 
bate and discuss, refine and refute, and all the while the 
hemlock is growing in the furrow, and the plough is 
rusting. Friend, if your knowledge, if your culture, if 
your education does not lead you practically to serve 
God in your day and generation, you have not learned 
what Solomon calls wisdom, and you are not like the 
Blessed One, who was incarnate wisdom, of whom we 
read that " he went about doing good." A lazy man is 
not like our Saviour, who said, " My Father worketh 
hitherto, and I work." True wisdom is practical : 
boastful culture vapors and theorizes. Wisdom ploughs 
its field, wisdom hoes its vineyard, wisdom looks to its 
crops, wisdom tries to make the best of everything ; 



THE SLUGGARD S FARM. 7 

and he who does not do so, whatever may be his knowl- 
edge of this, of that, or of the other, is a man void of 
understanding. 

<f Why is he void of understanding ? Is it not because 
he has opportunities which he does not use ? His day has 
come, his day is going, and he lets the hours glide by to 
no purpose. Let me not press too hardly upon any one, 
but let me ask you all to press as hardly as you can 
upon yourselves while you enquire each one of himself, 
Am I employing the minutes as they fly ? This man 
had a vineyard, but he did not cultivate it ; he had a field, 
but he did not till it. Do you, brethren, use all your 
opportunities ? I know we each one have some power to 
serve God ; do we use it ? If we are his children he has 
not put one of us where we are of necessity useless. Some- 
where we may shine by the light which he has given us, 
though that light be only a farthing candle. Are we 
thus shining ? Do we sow beside all waters ? Do we in 
the morning sow our seed, and in the evening still 
stretch out our hand ? for if not, we are rebuked by the 
sweeping censure of Solomon, who saith that the sloth- 
ful is a " man void of understanding " 
5 Having opportunities he did not use them, and 
next, being bound to the performance of certain duties he did 
not fulfil them. When God appointed that every Israelite 
should have a piece of land, under that admirable system 
which made every Israelitea land owner, he meant that 
each man should possess his plot, not to let it lie waste, 
but to cultivate it. When God put Adam in the garden 
of Eden it was not that he should walk through the glades 
and watch the spontaneous luxuriance of the unfallen 
earth, but that he might dress it and keep it, and he 
had the same end in view when he allotted each Jew his 






6 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

piece of land ; he meant that the holy soil should reach 
the utmost point of fertility through the labor of those 
who owned it. Thus the possession of a field and a 
vineyard involved responsibilities upon the sluggard 
which he never fulfilled, and therefore he was void of 
understanding. What is your position, dear friend ? 
A father ? A master ? A servant ? A minister ? A 
teacher ? Well, you have your farms and your vine- 
yards in those particular spheres ; but if you do not 
use those positions aright you will be void of under- 
standing, because you neglect the end of your exist- 
ence. You miss the high calling which your Maker has 
set before you. 

The slothful farmer was unwise in these two respects, 
and in another also ; for he had capacities which he did not 
employ. He could have tilled the field and cultivated the 
vineyard if he had chosen to do so. S He was not a sickly 
man, who was forced to keep his bed, but he was a lazy- 
bones who was there of choice. 

You are not asked to do in the service of God that 
which is utterly beyond you, for it is expected of us 
according to what we have and not. according to what 
we have not. The man of two talents is not required to 
bring in the interest of five, but he is expected to bring 
in the interest of two. Solomon's slothful was too idle 
to attempt tasks which were quite within his power. 
Many have a number of dormant faculties of which they 
are scarcely aware, and many more have abilities which 
they are using for themselves, and not for Him who 
created them. Dear friends, if God has given us any 
power to do good, pray let us do it, for this is a wicked, 
weary world. We should not even cover aglow-worm's 
light in such a darkness as this. We should not keep 



THE SLUGGARD S FARM- 9 

back a syllable of divine truth in a world that is so full 
of falsehood and error. However feeble our voices, let 
us lift them up for the cause of truth and righteousness. 
Do not let us be void of understanding, because we 
have opportunities that we do not use, obligations that 
we do not fulfil, and capacities which we do not exer- 
cise. 

As for a sluggard in soul matters, he is indeed void 
of understanding, iox he trifles with matters which demand 
his most earnest heed. Man, hast thou never cultivated thy 
heart ? Hast the ploughshare never broken up the clods 
of thy soul ? Has the seed of the Word never been sown 
in thee ? or has it taken no root ? Hast thou never water- 
ed the young plants of desire ? Hast thou never sought 
to pull up the weeds of sin that grow in thy heart ? Art 
thou still a piece of the bare common or wild heath ? Poor 
soul ! Thou canst trim thy body, and spend many a 
minute at the glass ; dost thou not care for thy soul ? 
How long thou takest to decorate thy poor flesh, which is 
but worm's meat, or would be in a minute if God took 
away thy breath ! And yet all the while thy soul is un- 
combed, unwashed, unclad, a poor neglected thing ' 
Oh it should not be so, You take care of the worse 
part and leave the better to perish through neglect. 
This is the height of folly ! He that is a sluggard as 
to the vineyard of his heart is a man void of under- 
standing. If I must be idle, let it be seen in my field 
and my garden, but not in my soul. 

Or are you a Christian ? Are you really saved, and 
are you negligent in the Lord's work ? Then, indeed, 
whatever you may be, I cannot help saying you have too 
little understanding ; for surely, when a man is saved 
himself, and understands the danger of other men's souls, 



IO TALKS TO FARMERS. 

he must be in earnest in trying to pluck the firebrands 
from the flame. A Christian sluggard ! Is there such 
a being ? A Christian man on half time ? A Christian 
man working not at all for his Lord ; how shall I speak 
of him ? Time does not tarry, death does not tarry, 
HELL does not tarry ; Satan is not lazy, all the powers 
of darkness are busy : how is it that you and I can be 
sluggish, if the Master has put us into his vineyard ? 
Surely we must be void of understanding if, after being 
saved by the infinite love of God, we do not spend and 
be spent in his service. The eternal fitness of things 
demands that a saved man should be an earnest man. 

% The Christian who is slothful in his Master's service 
has no idea what he is losing j for the very cream of religion 
lies in holy consecration to God. Some people have just 
enough religion to make it questionable whether they 
have any or no. They have enough godliness to make 
them uneasy in their ungodliness. They have washed 
enough of their face to show the dirt upon the rest of it. 
• ' I am glad, ' ' said a servant, ' ' that my mistress takes the 
sacrament, for otherwise I should not know she had any 
religion at all." You smile, and well you may. It is 
ridiculous that some people should have no goods in 
their shop, and yet advertise their business in all the 
papers ; should make a show of religion, and yet have 
none of the Spirit of God. I wish some professors would 
do Christ the justice to say, " No, I am not one of his 
disciples ; do not think so badly of him as to imagine 
that I can be one of them." We ought to be reflections 
of Christ ; but I fear many are reflections upon Christ. 
When we see a lot of lazy servants, we are apt to think 
that their master must be a very idle person himself, or 
he would never put up with them. He who employs 



THE SLUGGARD S FARM. II 

sluggards, and is satisfied with their snail-like pace, 
cannot be a very active man himself. O, let not the 
world think that Christ is indifferent to human woe, 
that Christ has lost his zeal, that Christ has lost his 
energy : yet I fear they will say it or think it if they see 
those who profess to be laborers in the vineyard of 
Christ nothing better than mere sluggards. The sloth- 
ful, then, is a man void of understanding ; he loses the 
honor and pleasure which he would find in serving his 
Master ; he is a dishonor to the cause which he professes 
to venerate, and he is storing up thorns for his dying 
pillow. Let that stand as settled — the slothful, whether 
he be a minister, deacon, or private Christian, is a man 
void of understanding. 

Now, secondly, let us look at the sluggard's land : 
" I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard 
of the man void of understanding ; And, lo, it was all 
grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the 
face thereof." Note, first, that land will produce some- 
thing. Soil which is good enough to be made into a 
field and a vineyard must and will yield some fruit or 
other ; and so you and I, in our hearts and in the 
sphere God gives us to occupy, will be sure to produce 
something. We cannnot live in this world as entire 
blanks ; we shall either do good or do evil, as sure as we 
are alive. If you are idle in Christ's work, you are 
active in the devil's work. The sluggard by sleeping was 
doing more for the cultivation of thorns and nettles 
than he could have done by any other means. As a 
garden will either yield flowers or weeds, fruits or this- 
tles, so something either good or evil will come out of 
our household, our class, or our congregation. If we 



12 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

do not produce a harvest of good wheat, by laboring for 
Christ, we shall grow tares to be bound up in bundles 
for the last dread burning. 

Note again that, if it be not farmed for God, the 
soul will yield its natural produce; and what is the natural 
produce of land if left to itself ? What but thorns and 
nettles, or some other useless weeds ? What is the 
natural produce of your heart and mine ? What but 
sin and misery ? What is the natural produce of your 
children if you leave them untrained for God ? What 
but unholiness and vice ? What is the natural produce 
of this great city if we leave its streets, and lanes, and 
alleys without the gospel ? What but crime and infamy ? 
Some harvest there will be, and the sheaves will be the 
natural produce of the soil, which is sin, death, and 
corruption. 

If we are slothful, the natural produce of our heart 
and of our sphere will be most inconvenient and unpleasant to 
ourselves. Nobody can sleep on thorns, or make a pillow 
of nettles. No rest can come out of an idleness which 
lets ill alone, and does not by God's Spirit strive to up- 
root evil. While you are sleeping, Satan will be sowing. 
If you withhold the seed of good, Satan will be lavish 
with the seed of evil, and from that evil will come 
anguish and regret for time, and it may be for eternity. 
O man, the garden put into thy charge, if thou waste 
thy time in slumber, will reward thee with all that is 
noisome and painful. " Thorns also and thistles shall 
it bring forth to thee." 

In many instances there will be a g reat d eal of this evil 
produce ; for a field and a vineyard will yield more 
thistles and nettles than a piece of gound that has never 
been reclaimed. If the land is good enough for a gar- 



13 

den, it will present its owner with a fine crop of weeds 
if he only stays his hand. A choice bit of land fit for 
a vineyard of red wine will render such a profusion of 
nettles to the slothful that he shall rub his eyes with 
surprise. The man who might do most for God, if he 
were renewed, will bring forth most for Satan if he be 
let alone. The very region which would have glorified 
God most if the grace of God were there to convert its 
inhabitants, will be that out of which the vilest enemies 
of the gospel will arise. Rest assured of that ; the best 
will become the worst if we neglect it. Neglect is all 
that is needed to produce evil. If you want to know 
the way of salvation, I must take some pains to tell you ; 
but if you want to know the way to be lost, my reply is 
easy ; for it is only a matter of negligence : — ' ' How shall 
we escape if we neglect so great salvation ?" If you 
desire to bring forth a harvest unto God, I may need 
long to instruct you in ploughing, sowing, and watering ; 
but if you wish your mind to be covered with Satan's 
hemlock, you have only to leave the furrows of your 
nature to themselves. The slothful asks for " A little 
sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to 
sleep," and the thorns and thistles multiply beyond all 
numbering, and prepare for him many a sting. 

While we look upon the lazy man's vineyard let us 
also peep into the ungodly sluggard's heart. He does 
not care about repentance and faith. To think about 
his soul, to be in earnest about eternity, is too much for 
him. He wants to take things easy, and have a little 
more folding of the arms to sleep. What is growing in 
his mind and character ? In some of these spiritual 
sluggards you can see drunkenness, uncleanness, cov- 
etousness, anger, and pride, and all sorts of thistles and 



14 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

nettles ; or where these ranker weeds do not appear, 
by reason of the restraint of pious connections, you 
find other sorts of sin. The heart cannot be altogether 
empty, either Christ or the devil will possess it. My 
dear friend, if you are not decided for God, you can- 
not be a neutral. In this war every man is for God or 
for his enemy. You cannot remain like a sheet of blank 
paper. The legible handwriting of Satan is upon you 
— can you not see the blots ? Unless Christ has written 
across the page his own sweet name, the autograph of 
Satan is visible. You may say, " I do not go into open 
sin ; I am moral," and so forth. Ah, if you would but 
look, and consider, and search into your heart, you 
would see that enmity to God and to his ways, and 
hatred of purity, are there. You do not love God's law, 
nor love his Son, nor love his gospel, you are alienated 
in your heart, and there is in you all manner of evil 
desires and vain thoughts, and these will flourish and 
increase so long as you are a spiritual sluggard, and 
leave your heart uncultivated. O, may the Spirit of 
God arouse you ; may you be stirred to anxious, earnest 
thought, and then you will see that these rank growths 
must be uprooted, and that your heart must be turned 
up by the plough of conviction, and sown with the 
good seed of the gospel, till a harvest rewards the great 
Husbandman. 

Friend, if you believe in Christ, I want to peep over 
the hedge intoyour heart also, if you are a sluggish Chris- 
tian ; for I fear that nettles and thistles are threatening 
you also. Did I not hear you sing the other day — 

" 'Tis a point I long to know " ? 

That point will often be raised, for doubt is a seed which 



THE SLUGGARD S FARM. 1 5 

is sure to grow in lazy men's minds. I do not remember 
reading in Mr. Wesley's diary a question about his own 
salvation. He was so busy in the harvest of the Master 
that it did not occur to him to distrust his God. Some 
Christians have little faith in consequence of their having 
never sown the grain of mustard-seed which they have 
received. If you do not sow your faith by using it, how 
can it grow ? When a man lives by faith in Christ Jesus, 
and his faith exercises itself actively in the service of his 
Lord, it takes root, grows upward, and become strong, 
till it chokes his doubts. Some have sadly morbid 
forebodings ; they are discontented, fretful, selfish, 
murmuring, and all because they are idle. These are 
the weeds that grow in sluggards' gardens. I have 
known the slothful become so peevish that nothing could 
please them ; the most earnest Christian could not do 
right for them ; the most loving Christians could not be 
affectionate enough ; the most active church could not 
be energetic enough ; they detected all sorts of wrong 
where God himself saw much of the fruit of his Spirit, 
This censoriousness, this contention, this perpetual 
complaining is one of the nettles that are quite sure to 
grow in men's gardens when they fold their arms in 
sinful ease. If your heart does not yield fruit to God it 
will certainly bring forth that which is mischievous in 
itself, painful to you, and injurious to your fellow-men. 
Often the thorns choke the good seed ; but it is a very 
blessed thing when the good seed comes up so thick and 
fast that it chokes the thorns. God enables certain 
Christians to become so fruitful in Christ that their 
graces and works stand thick together, and when Satan 
throws in the tares they cannot grow because there is no 
room for them. The Holy Spirit by his power makes 



1 6 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

evil to become weak in the heart, so that it no longer 
keeps the upper hand. If you are slothful, friend, look 
over the field of your heart, and weep at the sight. 

May I next ask you to look into your own house and 
home ? It is a dreadful thing when a man does not cul- 
tivate the field of his own family. I recollect in my early 
days a man who used to walk out with me into the vil- 
lages when I was preaching. I was glad of his company 
till I found out certain facts, and then I shook him off, 
and I believe he hooked on to somebody else, for he 
must needs be gadding abroad every evening of the week. 
He had many children, and these grew up to be wicked 
young men and women, and the reason was that the 
father, while he would be at this meeting and that, 
never tried to bring his own children to the Saviour. 
What is the use of zeal abroad if there is neglect at 
home? How sad to say, " My own vineyard have I 
not kept." Have you never heard of one who said he 
did not teach his children the ways of God because he 
thought they were so young that it was very wrong to 
prejudice them, and he had rather leave them to choose 
their own religion when they grew older ? One of his 
boys broke his arm, and while the surgeon was setting 
it the boy was swearing all the time. '*' Ah," said the 
good doctor, " I told you what would happen. You were 
afraid to prejudice your boy in the right way, but the 
devil had no such qualms ; he has prejudiced him the 
other way, and pretty strongly too." It is our duty to 
prejudice our field in favor of corn, or it will soon be cov- 
ered with thistles. Cultivate a child's heart for good, 
or it will go wrong of itself, for it is already depraved by 
nature. Q that we were wise enough to think of this, 
and leave no little one to become a prey to the destroyer. 



THE SLUGGARD S FARM. I 7 

As it is with homes, so is it with schools. A gentle- 
man who joined this church some time ago had been an 
atheist for years, and in conversing with him I found that 
he had been educated at one of our great public schools, 
and to that fact he traced his infidelity He said that 
the boys were stowed away on Sunday in a lofty gallery 
at the far end of a church, where they could scarcely 
hear a word that the clergyman said, but simply sat 
imprisoned in a place where it was dreadfully hot in 
summer and cold in winter. On Sundays there were 
prayers, and prayers, and prayers, but nothing that 
ever touched his heart ; until he was so sick of prayers 
that he vowed if he once got out of the school he 
would have done with religion. This is a sad re- 
sult, but a frequent one. You Sunday-school teach- 
ers can make your classes so tiresome to the children 
that they will hate Sunday. You can fritter away the 
time in school without bringing the lads and lasses 
to Christ, and so you may do more hurt than good. 
I have known Christian fathers who by their severity 
and want of tenderness have sown their family field 
with the thorns and thistles of hatred to religion instead 
of scattering the good seed of love to it. O that we 
may so live among our children that they may not only 
love us, but love our Father who is in heaven. May 
fathers and mothers set such an example of cheerful 
piety that sons and daughters shall say, " Let us tread 
in our father's footsteps, for he was a happy and a 
holy man. Let us follow our mother's ways, for 
she was sweetness itself." If piety does not rule in 
your house, when we pass by your home we shall see 
disorder, disobedience, pride of dress, folly, and the 
beginnings of vice. Let not your home be a slug- 



1 8 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

gard's field, or you will have to rue it in years to 
come. 

Let every deacon, every class-leader, and also every 
minister enquire diligently into the state of the field he 
has to cultivate. You see, brothers and sisters, if you 
and I are set over any department of our Lord's work, 
and we are not diligent in it, we shall be like barren 
trees planted in an orchard, which are a loss altogether, 
because they occupy the places of other trees which 
might have brought forth fruit unto their owners. We 
shall cumber the ground, and do damage to our Lord, 
unless we render him actual service. Will you think 
of this ? If you could be put down as a mere cipher in 
the accounts of Christ, that would be very sad ; but, 
brother, it cannot be so, you will cause a deficit unless 
you create a gain. Oh that through the grace of God 
we may be profitable to our Lord and Master ! Who 
among us can look upon his life-work without some 
sorrow ? If anything has been done aright we ascribe 
it all to the grace of God ; but how much there is to 
weep over ! How much that we would wish to amend ! 
Let us not spend time in idle regrets, but pray for the 
Spirit of God, that in the future we may not be void of 
understanding, but may know what we ought to do, and 
where the strength must come from with which to do it, 
and then give ourselves up to the doing of it. 

I beg you once more to look at the great field of the 
world. Do you see how it is overgrown with thorns 
and nettles ? If an angel could take a survey of the 
whole race, what tears he would shed, if angels could 
weep ! What a tangled mass of weeds the whole earth 
is ! Yonder the field is scarlet with the poppy of popery, 
and over the hedge it is yellow with the wild mustard 



THE SLUGGARD S FARM. 1 9 

of Mahometanism. Vast regions are smothered with 
the thistles of infidelity and idolatry. The world is 
full of cruelty, oppression, drunkenness, rebellion, un- 
cleanness, misery. What the moon sees ! What God's 
sun sees ! What scenes of horror ! How far is all this 
to be attributed to a neglectful church ? Nearly nine- 
teen hundred years are gone, and the sluggard's vine- 
yard is but little improved ! England has been touched 
with the spade, but I cannot say that it has been thor- 
oughly weeded or ploughed yet. Across the ocean 
another field equally favored knows well the ploughman, 
and yet the weeds are rank. Here and there a little 
good work has been done, but the vast mass of the 
world still lies a moorland never broken up, a waste, 
a howling wilderness. What has the church been doing 
all these years ? She ceased after a few centuries to be 
a missionary church, and from that hour she almost 
ceased to be a living church. Whenever a church does 
not labor for the reclaiming of the desert, it becomes 
itself a waste. You shall not find on the roll of history 
that for a length of time any Christian community has 
flourished after it has become negligent of the outside 
world. I believe that if we are put into the Master's 
vineyard, and will not take away the weeds, neither shall 
the vine flourish, nor shall the corn yield its increase. 
However, instead of asking what the church has been 
doing for this nineteen hundred years, let us ask our- 
selves, What are we going to do now ? Are the missions 
of the churches of Great Britain always to be such poor, 
feeble things as they are ? Are the best of our Christian 
young men always going to stay at home ? We go on 
ploughing the home field a hundred times over, while 
millions of acres abroad are left to the thorn and nettle. 



20 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

Shall it always be so ? God send us more spiritual life, 
and wake us up from our sluggishness, or else when the 
holy watcher gives in his report, he will say, " I went by 
the field of' the sluggish church, and it was all grown 
over with thorns and nettles, and the stone wall was 
broken down, so that one could scarcely tell which was 
the church and which was the world, yet still she slept, 
and slept, and slept, and nothing could waken her." 

I conclude by remarking that there must be some 
lesson in all this. I cannot teach it as I would, but I 
want to learn it myself. I will speak it as though I 
were talking to myself. 

The first lesson is, that unaided nature always will 
produce thorns and nettles, and nothing else. My soul, if it 
were not for grace, this is all thou wouldst have produced. 
Beloved, are you producing anything else ? Then it is 
not nature, but the grace of God that makes you produce 
it. Those lips that now most charmingly sing the praises 
of God would have been delighted with an idle ballad 
if the grace of God had not sanctified them. Your heart, 
that now cleaves to Christ, would have continued to 
cling to your idols — you know what they were — if it had 
not been for grace divine. And why should grace have 
visited you or me — why ? Echo answers, Why ? What 
answer can we give ? " 'Tis even so, Father, for so it 
seemed good in thy sight. ' ' Let the recollection of what 
grace has done move us to manifest the result of that 
grace in our lives. Come, brothers and sisters, inasmuch 
as we were aforetime rich enough in the soil of our 
nature to produce so much of nettle and thistle — and 
God only knows how much we did produce — let us now 
pray that our lives may yield as much of good corn for 
the great Husbandman. Will you serve Christ less 



THE SLUGGARDS FARM. 2 1 

than you served your lusts ? Will you make less sacrifice 
for Christ than you did for your sins ? Some of you 
were whole-hearted enough when in the service of the 
evil one, will you be half-hearted in the service of God ? 
Shall the Holy Spirit produce less fruit in you than that 
which you yielded under the spirit of evil ? 

God grant that we may not be left to prove what 
nature will produce if left to itself. 

We see here, next, the little value of natural good inten- 
tions ; for this man, who left his field and vineyard to be 
overgrown, always meant to work hard one of these fine 
days. To do him justice, we must admit that he did 
not mean to sleep much longer, for he said — " Yet a little 
sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to 
sleep." Only a little doze, and then he would tuck up 
his sleeves and show his muscle. Probably the worst 
people in the world are those who have the best inten- 
tions, but never carry them out. In that way Satan lulls 
many to sleep. They hear an earnest sermon ; but they 
do not arise andgo to their Father ; they only get as far 
as saying, ' ' Yes, yes, the far country is not a fit place for 
me ; I will not stay here long. I mean to go home by- 
and-by." They said that forty years ago, but nothing 
came of it. When they were quite youths they had 
serious impressions, they were almost persuaded to be 
Christians, and yet they are not Christians even now. 
They have been slumbering forty years ! Surely that is 
a liberal share of sleep ! They never intended to dream so 
long, and now they do not mean to lie in bed much longer. 
They will not turn to Christ at once, but they are re- 
solved to do so one day. When are you going to do it, 
friend? " Before I die. " Going to put it off to the last 
hour or two, are you ? And so, when unconscious, and 



2 2 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

drugged to relieve pain, you will begin to think of your 
soul ? Is this wise ? Surely you are void of understand- 
ing. Perhaps you will die in an hour. Did you not 
hear the other day of the alderman who died in his car- 
riage ? Little must he have dreamed of that. How 
would it have fared with you had you also been smitten 
while riding at your ease ? Have you not heard of per- 
sons who fall dead at their work ? What is to hinder 
your dying with a spade in your hand ? I am often 
startled when I am told in the week that one whom I 
saw on Sunday is dead — gone from the shop to the 
judgment-seat. It is not a very long time ago since 
one went out at the doorway of the Tabernacle, and fell 
dead on the threshold. We have had deaths in the 
house of God, unexpected deaths ; and sometimes peo- 
ple are hurried away unprepared who never meant to 
have died unconverted, who always had from their 
youth up some kind of desire to be ready, only still they 
wanted a little more sleep. Oh, my hearers, take heed 
of little delays, and short puttings-off. You have wasted 
time enough already, come to the point at once before 
the clock strikes again. May God the Holy Spirit bring 
you to decision. 

" Surely you do not object to my having a little 
more sleep?" says the sluggard. "You have waked 
me so soon. I only ask another little nap." " My 
dear man, it is far into the morning." He answers, 
" It is rather late, I know ; but it will not be much later 
if I take just another doze." You wake him again, and 
tell him it is noon. He says, " It is the hottest part of 
the day : I daresay if I had been up I should have gone 
to the sofa and taken a little rest from the hot sun." 
You knock at his door when it is almost evening, and 



THE SLUGGARD S FARM. 23 

then he cries, " It is of no use to get up now, for the 
day is almost over." You remind him of his over- 
grown field and weedy vineyard, and he answers, " Yes, 
I must get up, I know." He shakes himself and 
says, " I do not think it "will matter much if I wait till 
the clock strikes. I will rest another minute or two." 
He is glued to his bed, dead while he liveth, buried in 
his laziness. If he could sleep forever he would, but 
he cannot, for the judgment-day will rouse him. It is 
written, " And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in tor- 
ment." God grant that you spiritual sluggards may 
wake before that ; but you will not unless you bestir 
yourselves betimes, for " now is the accepted time"; 
and it may be now or never. To morrow is only to be 
found in the calendar of fools ; to-day is the time of the 
wise man, the chosen season of our gracious God. Oh 
that the Holy Spirit may lead you to seize the present 
hour, that you may at once give yourselves to the Lord 
by faith in Christ Jesus, and then from his vineyard — 

" Quick uproot 
The noisome weeds, that without profit suck 
The soil's fertility from wholesome plants. " 



THE BROKEN FENCE. 

" I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void 
of understanding ; and lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had 
covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down. Then I 
saw, and considered it well : I looked upon it and received instruction." — 
Proverbs 24 : 30-32. 

This slothful man did no hurt to his fellow-men : he 
was not a thief, nor a ruffian, nor a meddler in anybody- 
else's business. He did not trouble himself about other 
men's concerns, for he did not even attend to his own 
— it required too much exertion. He was not grossly 
vicious ; he had not energy enough to care for that. He 
was one who liked to take things easily. He always let 
well alone, and, for the matter of that, he let ill alone, 
too, as the nettles and the thistles in his garden plainly 
proved. What was the use of disturbing himself ? It 
would be ail the same a hundred years hence ; and so 
he took things just as they came. He was not a bad man, 
so some said of him ; and yet, perhaps, it will be found 
at last that there is no worse man in the world than the 
man who is not good, for in some respects he is not good 
enough to be bad ; he has not enough force of character 
about him to serve either God or Baal. He simply serves 
himself, worshipping his own ease and adoring his own 
comfort. Yet he always meant to be right. Dear me ! 
he was not going to sleep much longer, he would only 
have forty winks more, and then he would be at his work, 



THE BROKEN FENCE. 25 

and show you what he could do. One of these days he 
meant to be thoroughly in earnest, and make up for lost 
time. The time never actually came for him to begin, 
but it was always coming. He always meant to repent, 
but he went on in his sin. He meant to believe, but he 
died an unbeliever. He meant to be a Christian, but he 
lived without Christ. He halted between two opinions 
because he could not trouble himself to make up his 
mind ; and so he perished of delay. 

This picture of the slothful man and his garden and 
field overgrown with nettles and weeds represents many 
a man who has professed to be a Christian, but who has 
become slothful in the things of God. Spiritual life 
has withered in him. He has backslidden ; he has come 
down from the condition of healthy spiritual energy into 
one of listlessness, and indifference to the things of 
God ; and while things have gone wrong within his heart, 
and all sorts of mischiefs have come into him and grown 
up and seeded themselves in him, mischief is also taking 
place externally in his daily conduct. The stone wall 
which guarded his character is broken down, and 
he lies open to all evil. Upon this point we will 
now meditate. " The stone wall thereof was broken 
down." 

Come, then, let us take a walk with Solomon, and 
stand with him and consider and learn instruction while 
we look at this broken-down fence. When we have exam- 
ined it, let us consider the consequences of broken-down walls ; 
and then, in the last place, let us try to rouse up this slug- 
gard that his wall may yet be repaired. If this slothful person 
should be one of ourselves, may God's infinite mercy 
rouse us up before this ruined wall has let in a herd of 
prowling vices. 



26 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

I. First let us take a look at this broken fence. 

You will see that in the beginning it was a very good 
fence, for it was a stone wall. Fields are often surrounded 
with wooden palings which soon decay, or with hedges 
which may very easily have gaps made in them ; but 
this was a stone wall. Such walls are very usual in 
the East, and are also common in some of our own 
counties where stone is plentiful. It was a substantial 
protection to begin with, and well shut in the pretty 
little estate which had fallen into such bad hands. The 
man had a field for agricultural purposes, and another 
strip of land for a vineyard or a garden. It was fer- 
tile soil, for it produced thorns and nettles in abun- 
dance, and where these nourish better things can be pro- 
duced ; yet the idler took no care of his property, but 
allowed the wall to get into bad repair, and in many- 
places to be quite broken down. 

Let me mention some of the stone walls that men 
permit to be broken down when they backslide. 

In many cases sound principles were instilled in youth, but 
these are forgotten. What a blessing is Christian edu- 
cation ! Our parents, both by persuasion and example, 
taught many of us the things that are pure and honest, 
and of good repute. We saw in their lives how to live. 
They also opened the word of God before us, and they 
taught us the ways of . right both toward God and 
toward men. They prayed for us, and they prayed with 
us, till the things of God were placed round about us 
and shut us in as with a stone wall. We have never 
been able to get rid of our early impressions. Even in 
times of wandering, before we knew the Lord savingly, 
these things had a healthy power over us ; we were 
checked when we would have done evil, we were assisted 



THE BROKEN FENCE. 27 

when we were struggling toward Christ. It is very 
sad when people permit these first principles to be 
shaken, and to be removed like stones which fall from a 
boundary wall. Young persons begin at first to talk 
lightly of the old-fashioned ways of their parents. By- 
and-by it is not merely the old-fashionedness of the 
ways, but the ways themselves that they despise. They 
seek other company, and from that other company they 
learn nothing but evil. They seek pleasure in places 
which it horrifies their parents to think of. This leads 
to worse, and if they do not bring their fathers' gray 
hairs with sorrow to the grave it is no virtue of theirs. 
I have known young men, who really were Christians, 
sadly backslide through being induced to modify, con- 
ceal, or alter those holy principles in which they were 
trained from their mother's knee. It is a great calamity 
when professedly converted men become unfixed, un- 
stable, and carried about with every wind of doctrine. 
It shows great faultiness of mind, and unsoundness of 
heart, when we can trifle with those grave and solemn 
truths which have been sanctified by a mother's tears 
and by a father's earnest life. " I am thy servant," said 
David, "and the son of thy handmaid ": he felt it to 
be a high honor, and, at the same time, a sacred bond 
which bound him to God, that he was the son of one who 
could be called God's handmaid. Take care, you who 
have had Christian training, that you do not trifle with 
it. " My son, keep thy father's commandment, and for- 
sake not the law of thy mother : bind them continually 
upon thine heart, and tie them about thy neck." 

Protection to character is also found in the fact that 
solid doctrines have been learned. This is a fine stone 
wall. Many among us have been taught the gospel 



25 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

of the grace of God, and they have learned it well, so 
that they are able to contend earnestly for the faith 
once delivered to the saints. Happy are they who have 
a religion that is grounded upon a clear knowledge of 
eternal verities. A religion which is all excitement, and 
has little instruction in it, may serve for transient use ; 
but for permanent life-purposes there must be a knowl- 
edge of those great doctrines which are fundamental to 
the gospel system. I tremble when I hear of a man's 
giving up, one by one, the vital principles of the gospel 
and boasting of his liberality. I hear him say, " These 
are my views, but others have a right to their views 
also." That is a very proper expression in reference to 
mere " views," but we may not thus speak of truth itself 
as revealed by God : that is one and unalterable, and 
all are bound to receive it. It is not your view of truth, 
for that is a dim thing ; but the very truth itself which 
will save you if your faith embraces it. I will readily 
yield my way of stating a doctrine, but not the doctrine 
itself. One man may put it in this way, and one in 
another ; but the truth itself must never be given up. 
The spirit of the Broad School robs us of everything like 
certainty. I should like to ask some great men of that 
order whether they believe that anything is taught in 
the Scriptures which it would be worth while for a per- 
son to die for, and whether the martyrs were not great 
fools for laying down their lives for mere opinions which 
might be right or might be wrong. This Broad-church- 
ism is a breaking down of stone walls, and it will let 
in the devil and all his crew, and do infinite harm to 
the church of God, if it be not stopped. A loose state 
of belief does great damage to any man's mind. 

We are not bigots, but we should be none the worse 



THE BROKEN FENCE. 29 

if we so lived that men called us so. I met a man the 
other day who was accused of bigotry, and I said, " Give 
me your hand, old fellow. I like to meet with bigots now 
and then, for the fine old creatures are getting scarce, 
and the stuff they are made of is so good that if there 
were more of it we might see a few men among us again 
and fewer mollusks." Lately we have seen few men with 
backbone ; the most have been of the jelly-fish order. 
I have lived in times in which I should have said, " Be 
liberal, and shake off all narrowness": but now I am 
obliged to alter my tone and cry, " Be steadfast in the 
truth." The faith once delivered to the saints is now all 
the more attractive to me because it is called narrow, for 
I am weary of that breadth which comes of broken 
hedges. There are fixed points of truth, and definite cer- 
tainties of creed, and woe to you if you allow these stone 
walls to crumble down. I fear me that the slothful are a 
numerous band, and that ages to come may have to de- 
plore the laxity which has been applauded by this negli- 
gent generation. 

Another fence which is too often neglected is that of 
godly habits which had been formed : the sluggard allows 
this wall to be broken down. I will mention some 
valuable guards of life and character. One is the habit 
of secret prayer. Private prayer should be regularly 
offered, at least in the morning and in the evening. 
We cannot do without set seasons for drawing near to 
God. To look into the face of man without having first 
seen the face of God is very dangerous : to go out into 
the world without locking up the heart and giving God 
the key is to leave it open to all sorts of spiritual vagrants. 
At night, again, to go to your rest as the swine roll 
into their sty, without thanking God for the mercies of 



, 



30 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

the day, is shameful. The evening sacrifice should be 
devoutly offered as surely as we have enjoyed the even- 
ing fireside : we should thus put ourselves under the 
wings of the Preserver of men. It may be said, " We 
can pray at all times." I know we can : but I fear that 
those who do not pray at stated hours seldom pray at 
all. Those who pray in season are the most likely per- 
sons to pray at all seasons. Spiritual life does not care 
for a cast-iron regulation, but since life casts itself into 
some mould or other, I would have you careful of its 
external habit as well as its internal power. Never 
allow great gaps in the wall of your habitual private 
prayer. 

I go a step farther ; I believe that there is a great 
guardian power about family prayer, and I feel greatly 
distressed because I know that very many Christian 
families neglect it. Romanism, at one time, could do 
nothing in England, because it could offer nothing but 
the shadow of what Christian men had already in sub- 
stance. ' ' Do you hear that bell tinkling in the morning ?' ' 
" What is that for ?" " To go to church to pray." "In- 
deed," said the Puritan, " I have no need to go there to 
pray. I have had my children together, and we have 
read a passage of Scripture, and prayed, and sang the 
praises of God, and we have a church in our house." 
Ah, there goes that bell again in the evening. What is 
that for? Why, it is the vesper bell. The good man 
answered that he had no need to trudge a mile or two 
for that, for his holy vespers had been said and sung 
around his own table, of which the big Bible was the 
chief ornament. They told him that there could be no 
service without a priest, but he replied that every godly 
man should be a priest in his own house. Thus have 



THE BROKEN FENCE. 3 1 

the saints defied the overtures of priestcraft, and kept 
the faith from generation to generation. Household 
devotion and the pulpit are, under God, the stone walls 
of Protestantism, and my prayer [?, that these may not be 
broken down. 

Another fence to protect piety is found in week-night 
services. I notice that when people forsake week-night 
meetings the power of their religion evaporates. I do 
not speak of those lawfully detained to watch the 
sick, and attend to farm-work and other business, or as 
domestic servants and the like ; there are exceptions to 
all rules : but I mean those who could attend if they 
had a mind to do so. When people say, "It is quite 
enough for me to be wearied with the sermons of the 
Sunday ; I do not want to go out to prayer-meetings, 
and lectures, and so forth," — then it is clear that they 
have no appetite for the word ; and surely this is a bad 
sign. If you have a bit of wall built to protect the Sun- 
day and then six times the distance left without a fence, 
I believe that Satan's cattle will get in and do no end 
of mischief. 

Take care, also, of the stone wall of Bible reading, 
and of speaking often one to another concerning the 
things of God. Associate with the godly, and commune 
with God, and you will thus, by the blessing of God's 
Spirit, keep up a good fence against temptations, which 
otherwise will get into the fields of your soul, and de- 
vour all goodly fruits. 

Many have found much protection for the field of 
daily life in the stone wall of a public prof ession of faith. 
I am speaking to you who are real believers, and I know 
that you have often found it a great safeguard to be 
known and recognized as a follower of Jesus. I have 



32 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

never regretted — and I never shall regret — the day on 
which I walked to the little river Lark, in Cambridge- 
shire, and was there buried with Christ in baptism. In 
this I acted contrary to the opinions of all my friends 
whom' I respected and esteemed, but as I had read the 
Greek Testament for myself, I felt bound to be im- 
mersed upon the profession of my faith, and I was so. 
By that act I said to the world, " I am dead to you, 
and buried to you in Christ, and I hope henceforth to 
live in newness of life." That day, by God's grace, I 
imitated the tactics of the general who meant to fight 
the enemy till he conquered, and therefore he burned 
his boats that there might be no way of retreat. I 
believe that a solemn confession of Christ before men is 
as a thorn hedge to keep one within bounds, and to keep 
off those who hope to draw you aside. Of course it is 
nothing but a hedge, and it is of no use to fence in a field 
of weeds, but when wheat is growing a hedge is of 
great consequence. You who imagine that you can be 
the Lord's, and yet lie open like a common, are under a 
great error ; you ought to be distinguished from the 
world, and obey the voice which saith, " Come ye out 
from among them, be ye separate." The promise of 
salvation is to the man who with his heart believeth 
and with his mouth confesseth. ■ Say right boldly, " Let 
others do as they will ; as for me and my house, we will 
serve the Lord." By this act you come out into the 
king's highway, and put yourself under the protection 
of the Lord of pilgrims, and he will take care of you. 
Oftentimes, when otherwise you might have hesitated, 
you will say, " The vows of the Lord are upon me : how 
can I draw back ?" I pray you, then, set up the stone 
wall, and keep it up, and if it has at any corner been 



THE BROKEN FENCE. 3$ 

tumbled over, set it up again, and let it be seen by your 
conduct and conversation that you are a follower of 
Jesus, and are not ashamed to have it known. 

Keep to your religious principles like men, and do 
not turn aside for the sake of gain, or respectability. 
Do not let wealth break down your wall, for I have 
known some make a great gap to let their carriage go 
through, and to let in wealthy worldlings for the sake of 
their society. Those who forsake their principles to 
please men will in the end be lightly esteemed, but 
he who is faithful shall have the honor which cometh 
from God. Look well to this hedge of steadfast adhe- 
rence to the faith, and you shall find a great blessing 
in it. 

There is yet another stone wall which I v/ill men- 
tion, namely, firmness of character. Our holy faith teaches 
a man to be decided in the cause of Christ, and to be 
resolute in getting rid of evil habits. " If thine eye 
offend thee" — wear a shade? No ;" pluck it out." "If 
thine arm offend thee" — hang it in a sling ? No; "cut 
it off and cast it from thee." True religion is very 
thorough in what it recommends. It says to us, "Touch 
not the unclean thing." But many persons are so idle 
in the ways of God that they have no mind of their own : 
evil companions tempt them, and they cannot say, "No." 
They need a stone wall made up of noes. Here are the 
stones " no, no, no." Dare to be singular. Resolve to 
keep close to Christ. Make a stern determination to per- 
mit nothing in your life, however gainful or pleasurable, 
if it would dishonor the name of Jesus. Be dogmati- 
cally true, obstinately holy, immovably honest, despe- 
rately kind, fixedly upright. If God's grace sets up this 
hedge around you, even Satan will feel that he cannot 



34 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

get in, and will complain to God " hast thou not set a 
hedge about him ?" 

I have kept you long enough looking over the wall, 
let me invite you in, and for a few minutes let us consider 

THE CONSEQUENCES OF A BROKEN-DOWN FENCE. 

To make short work of it, first, the boundary lias gone. 
Those lines of separation which were kept up by the 
good principles which were instilled in him by religious 
habits, by a bold profession and by a firm resolve, have 
vanished, and now the question is, " Is he a Christian, 
or is he not ?" The fence is so far gone that he does 
not know which is his Lord's property and which re- 
mains an open common : in fact, he does not know 
whether he himself is included in the Royal domain or 
left to be mere waste of the world's manor. This is for 
want of keeping up the fences. If that man had lived 
near to God, if he had walked in his integrity, if the 
Spirit of God had richly rested on him in all holy living 
and waiting upon God, he would have known where 
the boundary was, and he would have seen whether his 
land lay in the parish of All-saints, or in the region 
called No-man's-land, or in the district where Satan is 
the lord of the manor. I heard of a dear old saint the 
other day who, when she was near to death, was attacked 
by Satan, and, waving her finger at the enemy, in her 
gentle way, she routed him by saying, "Chosen! chosen! 
chosen !" She knew that she was chosen, and she re- 
membered the text, " The Lord that hath chosen Jeru- 
salem rebuke thee." When the wall stands in its integ- 
rity all round the field, we can resist the devil by bid- 
ding him leave the Lord's property alone. " Begone ! 
Look somewhere else. I belong to Christ, not to 



THE BROKEN FENCE. 35 

you." To do this you must mend the hedges well 
so that there shall be a clear boundary line, and you 
can say, " Trespassers, beware !" Do not yield an 
inch to the enemy, but make the wall all the higher, 
the more he seeks to enter. O that this adversary may 
never find a gap to enter by ! 

Next, when the wall has fallen, the protection is gone. 
When a man's heart has its wall broken all his thoughts 
will go astray, and wander upon the mountains of van- 
ity. Like sheep, thoughts need careful folding, or they 
w r ill be off in no time. " I hate vain thoughts," said 
David, but slothful men are sure to have plenty of them, 
for there is no keeping your thoughts out of vanity un- 
less you stop at every gap and shut every gate. Holy 
thoughts, comfortable meditations, devout longings, 
and gracious communings will be off and gone if we 
sluggishly allow the stone wall to get out of repair. 

Nor is this all, for as good things go out so bad 
things come in. When the w r all is gone every passer-by 
sees, as it were, an invitation to enter. You have set 
before him an open door, and in he comes. Are there 
fruits ? He plucks them, of course. He walks about 
as it were a public place, and he pries everywhere. Is 
there any secret corner of your heart which you will keep 
for Jesus ? Satan or the world will walk in ; and do 
you wonder ? Every passing goat, or roaming ox, or 
stray ass visits the growing crops and spoils more than 
he eats, and who can blame the creature when the gaps 
are so wide ? All manner of evil lust and desires, and 
imaginations prey upon an unfenced soul. It is of no use 
for you to say, " Lead us not into temptation." God 
will hear your prayer, and he will not lead you there ; 
but you are leading yourself into it, you are tempting 



$6 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

the devil to tempt you. If you leave yourself open to 
evil influences the Spirit of God will be grieved, and he 
may leave you to keep the result of your folly. What 
think you, friend ? Had you not better attend to your 
fences at once ? 

And then there is another evil, for the land itself will 
go away. " No," say you ; " how can that be ?" If a 
stone wall is broken down round a farm in England a 
man does not thereby lose his land, but in many parts of 
Palestine the land is all ups and downs on the sides of 
the hills, and every bit of ground is terraced and kept 
up by walls. When the walls fall the soil slips over, 
terrace upon terrace, and the vines and trees go down 
with it ; then the rain comes and washes the soil away, 
and nothing is left but barren crags which would starve 
a lark. In the same manner a man may so neglect 
himself, and so neglect the things of God, and become 
so careless and indifferent about doctrine, and about 
holy living, that his power to do good ceases, and his 
mind, his heart, and his energy seem to be gone. The 
prophet said, " Ephraim is a silly dove, without heart :" 
there are flocks of such silly doves. The man who trifles 
with religion sports with his own soul, and will soon de- 
generate into so much of a trifler that he will be averse 
to solemn thought, and incapable of real usefulness. 
I charge you, dear friends, to be sternly true to your- 
selves and to your God. Stand to your principles in 
this evil and wicked day. Now, when everything seems 
to be turned into marsh and mire and mud, and religious 
thought appears to be silently sliding and slipping 
along, descending like a stream of slime into the Dead 
Sea of Unbelief — get solid walls built around your life, 
around your faith, and around your character. Stand 



THE BROKEN FENXE. 37 

fast, and having done all, still stand. May God the 
Holy Ghost cause you to be rooted and grounded, built 
up and established, fixed and confirmed, never " cast- 
ing away your confidence, which hath great recom- 
pense of reward." 

Lastly, I want, if I can, to wake up the sluggard. 
I would like to throw a handful of gravel up to his win- 
dow. It is time to get up, for the sun has drunk up all 
the dew. He craves "a little more sleep." My dear 
fellow, if you take a little more sleep, you will never 
wake at all till you lift up your eyes in another world. 
Wake at once. Leap from your bed before you are 
smothered in it. Wake up ! Do you not see where 
you are ? You have let things alone till your heart is 
covered with sins like weeds. You have neglected God 
and Christ till you have grown worldly, sinful, careless, 
indifferent, ungodly. I mean some of you who were once 
named with the sacred name. Y r ou have become like 
worldlings, and are almost as far from being what you 
ought to be as others w r ho make no profession at all. 
Look at yourselves and see what has come of your ne- 
glected walls. Then look at some of your fellow-Chris- 
tians, and mark how diligent they are. Look at many 
among them who are poor and illiterate, and yet they 
are doing far more than you for the Lord Jesus. In 
spite of your talents and opportunities, you are an un- 
profitable servant, letting all things run to waste. Is it 
not time that you bestirred yourself ? Look, again, 
at others who, like yourself, went to sleep, mean- 
ing to wake in a little while. What has become 
of them ? Alas, for those who have fallen into gross 
sin, and dishonored their character, and who have been 



38 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

put away from the church of God ; yet they only went 
a little farther than you have done. Your state of heart 
is much the same as theirs, and if you should be tempt- 
ed as they have been, you will probably make ship- 
wreck as they have done. Oh, see to it, you that slum- 
ber, for an idle professor is ready for anything. A 
slothful professor's heart is tinder for the devil's tinder- 
box ; does your heart thus invite the sparks of tempta- 
tion ? 

Remember, lastly, the coming of the Lord Jesus 
Christ. Shall he come and find you sleeping ? Remem- 
ber the judgment. What will you say to excuse your- 
self, for opportunities lost, time wasted, and talents 
wrapped up in a napkin, when the Lord shall come ? 

As for you, my unconverted friend, if you go dream- 
ing through this world, without any sort of trouble, 
and never look to the state of your heart at all, you will 
be a lost man beyond all question. The slothful can 
have no hope, for " if the righteous scarcely are saved," 
who strive to serve their Lord, where will those appear 
who sleep on in defiance of the calls of God ? Salvation 
is wholly and alone of grace, as you well know ; but 
grace never works in men's minds toward slumbering 
and indifference ; it tends toward energy, activity, fer- 
vor, importunity, self-sacrifice. God grant us the in- 
dwelling of his Holy Spirit, that all things may be set 
in order, sins cut up by the roots within the heart, and 
the whole man protected by sanctifying grace from the 
wasters which lurk around, hoping to enter where the 
wall is low. O Lord, remember us in mercy, fence us 
about by thy power, and keep us from the sloth which 
would expose us to evil, for Jesus' sake. Amen. 



FROST AND THAW. 

"He giveth snow like wool: he scattereth the hoarfrost like ashes. He 
casteth forth his ice like morsels : who can stand before his cold ? He sendeth 
out his word, and melteth them: he causeth his wind to blow, and the waters 
flow. "—Psalm 147 : 16-18. 

Looking out of our window one morning we saw the 
earth robed in a white mantle ; for in a few short hours 
the earth had been covered to a considerable depth with 
snow. We looked out again in a few hours and saw the 
fields as green as ever, and the ploughed fields as bare 
as if no single flake had fallen. It is no uncommon thing 
for a heavy fall of snow to be followed by a rapid thaw. 

These interesting changes are wrought by God, not 
only with a purpose toward the outward world, but 
with some design toward the spiritual realm. God is 
always a teacher. In every action that he performs he 
is instructing his own children, and opening up to them 
the road to inner mysteries. Happy are those who find 
food for their heaven-born spirits, as well as for their 
mental powers, in the works of the Lord's hand. 

I shall ask your attention, first, to the operations of na- 
ture spoken of in the text ; and, secondly, to those operations 
of grace of which they are the most fitting symbols. 

I. Consider, first, the operations of nature. We 
shall not think a few minutes wasted if we call your at- 
tention to the hand of God in frost and thaw, even 
upon natural grounds. 



40 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

i. Observe the directness of the Lord's work. I re- 
joice, as I read these words, to find how present our 
God is in the world. It is not written, " the laws of 
nature produce snow," but " he giveth snow," as if every 
flake came directly from the palm of his hand. We are 
not told that certain natural regulations form moisture 
into hoarfrost ; no, but as Moses took ashes of the fur- 
nace and scattered them upon Egypt, so it is said of the 
Lord " he scatter eth the hoarfrost like ashes." It is not 
said that the Eternal has set the world going and by 
the operation of its machinery ice is produced. Oh, 
no, but every single granule of ice descending in the 
hail is from God ; " he casteth forth his ice tike morsels." 
Even as the slinger distinctly sends the stone out of his 
sling, so the path of every hailstone is marked by the 
Divine power. The ice is called, you observe, his ice ; 
and in the next sentence we read of his cold. These 
words make nature strangely magnificent. When we 
look upon every hailstone as God's hail, and upon every 
fragment of ice as his ice, how precious the watery dia- 
monds become ! When we feel the cold nipping our 
limbs and penetrating through every garment, it con- 
soles us to remember that it is his cold. When the 
thaw comes, see how the text speaks of it : — " he sendeth 
out his word." He does not leave it to certain forces of 
nature, but like a king, il He sendeth out his word and 
meltdth them : he causeth his wind to blow. 1 " He has a spe- 
cial property in every wind ; whether it comes from the 
north to freeze, or from the south to melt, it is his wind. 
Behold how in God's temple everything speaketh of his 
glory. Learn to see the Lord in all scenes of the visible 
universe, for truly he worketh all things. 

This thought of the directness of the Divine opera- 



FROST AND THAW. 41 

tions must be carried into providence. It will greatly 
comfort you if you can see God's hand in your losses 
and crosses ; surely you will not murmur against the 
direct agency of your God. This will put an extraor- 
dinary sweetness into daily mercies, and make the com- 
forts of life more comfortable still, because they are 
from a Father's hand. If your table be scantily fur- 
nished it shall suffice for your contented heart, when you 
know that your Father spread it for you in wisdom and 
love. This shall bless your bread and your water ; this 
shall make the bare walls of an ill-furnished room as 
resplendent as a palace, and turn a hard bed into a 
couch of down ; — my Father doth it all. We see his 
smile of love even when others see nothing but the black 
hand of Death smiting our best beloved. We see a 
Father's hand when the pestilence lays our cattle dead 
upon the plain. We see God at work in mercy when 
we ourselves are stretched upon the bed of languishing. 
It is eyer our Father's act and deed. Do not let us get 
beyond this ; but rather let us enlarge our view of this 
truth, and remember that this is true of the little as 
well as of the great. Let the lines of a true poet strike 
you : — 

" If pestilence stalk through the land, ye say the Lord hath done it — 
Hath he not done it when an aphis creepeth upon the rosebud ? 
If an avalanche tumbles from its Alp, ye tremble at the will of Providence — 
Is not that will as much concerned when the sere leaves fall from the poplar ? " 

Let your hearts sing of everything, Jehovah-Shammah, 
the Lord is there. 

2. Next, I beg you to observe, with thanksgiving, 
the easeoi Divine working. These verses read as if the 
making of frost and snow were the simplest matter in 
all the world. A man puts his hand into a wool-pack and 



42 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

throws out the wool ; God giveth snow as easily as that : 
" He giveth snow like wool." A man takes up a hand- 
ful of ashes, and throws them into the air, so that they 
fall around : " He scattereth the hoarfrost like ashes." 
Rime and snow are marvels of nature : those who have 
observed the extraordinary beauty of the ice-crystals 
have been enraptured, and yet they are easily formed 
by the Lord. " He casteth forth his ice like morsels" 
--just as easily as we cast crumbs of bread outside the 
window to the robins during wintry days. When the 
rivers are hard frozen, and the earth is held in iron 
chains, then the melting of the whole — how is that 
done? Not by kindling innumerable fires, nor by send- 
ing electric shocks from huge batteries through the in- 
terior of the earth — no ; " He sendeth forth his word, 
and melteth them ; he causeth his wind to blow, and 
the waters flow." The whole matter is accomplished 
with a word and a breath. If you and I had any great 
thing to do, what puffing and panting, what straining 
and tugging there would be : even the great engineers, 
who perform marvels by machinery, make much noise 
and stir about it. It is not so with the Almighty One. 
Our globe spins round in four-and-twenty hours, and 
yet it does not make so much noise as a humming-top ; 
and yonder ponderous worlds rolling in space track 
their way in silence. If I enter a factory I hear a deaf- 
ening din, or if I stand near the village mill, turned by 
water dropping over a wheel, there is a never-ceasing 
click-clack, or an undying hum ; but God's great 
wheels revolve without noise or friction : divine ma- 
chinery works smoothly. This ease is seen in provi- 
dence as well as in nature. Your heavenly Father is as 
able to deliver you as he is to melt the snow, and he will 



FROST AND THAW. 43 

deliver you in as simple a manner if you rest upon him. 
He openeth his hand, and supplies the want of every 
living thing as readily as he works in nature. Mark the 
ease of God's working — he does but open his hand. 

3. Notice in the next place the variety of the Divine 
operations in nature. When the Lord is at work with 
frost as his tool he creates snow, a wonderful produc- 
tion, every crystal being a marvel of art ; but then he is 
not content with snow — from the same water he makes 
another form of beauty which we call hoarfrost, and yet 
a third lustrous sparkling substance, namely glittering 
ice ; and all these by the one agency of cold. What a 
marvellous variety the educated eye can detect in the 
several forms of frozen water ! The same God who so- 
lidified the flood with cold soon melts it with warmth ; 
but even in thaw there is no monotony of manner : at 
one time the joyous streams rush with such impet- 
uosity from their imprisonment that rivers are swollen 
and floods cover the plain ; at another time by slow r de- 
grees, in scanty driblets, the drops regain their freedom. 
The same variety is seen in every department of nature. 
So in providence the Lord has a thousand forms of 
frosty trials with which to try his people, and he has ten 
thousand beams of mercy with which to cheer and com- 
fort them. He can afflict }^ou with the snow trial, or 
with the hoarfrost trial, or with the ice trial, if he will ; 
and anon he can with his word relax the bonds of ad- 
versity, and that in countless ways. Whereas men are 
tied to two or three methods in accomplishing their 
will, God is infinite in understanding and worketh as 
he wills by ways unguessed of mortal mind. 

4. I shall ask you also to consider the works of God 
in nature in their swiftness. It w r as thought a wonderful 



44 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

thing in the days of Ahasuerus that letters were sent by 
post upon swift dromedaries. In our country we 
thought we had arrived at the age of miracles when the 
axles of our cars glowed with speed, and now that the 
telegraph is at work we stretch out our hands into in- 
finity ; but what is our rapidity compared with that of 
God's operations ? Well does the text say, " He send- 
eth forth his commandment upon earth : his word run- 
neth very swiftly." Forth went the Avord, " Open the 
treasures of snow," and the flakes descended in innu- 
merable multitudes ; and then it was said, " Let them 
be closed," and not another snow-feather was seen. 
Then spake the Master, " Let the south wind blow 
and the snow be melted" : lo, it disappeared at the 
voice oi his word. Believer, you cannot tell how soon 
God may come to your help. " He rode upon a cherub 
and did fly," says David ; " yea, he did fly upon the 
wings of the wind." He will come from above to res- 
cue his beloved. He will rend the heavens and come 
down ; with such speed will he descend, that he will 
not stay to draw the curtains of heaven, but he will rend 
them in his haste, and make the mountains to flow 
down at his feet, that he may deliver those who cry 
unto him in the hour of trouble. That mighty God 
who can melt the ice so speedily can take to himself the 
same eagle wings, and haste to your deliverance. Arise, 
O God ! and let thy children be helped, and that right 
early. 

5. One other thought : consider the goodness of God 
in all the operations of nature and providence. Think 
of that goodness negatively. " Who can stand before 
his cold ?" You cannot help thinking of the poor in a 
hard winter — only a hard heart can forget them when 



FROST AND THAW. 45 

you see the snow lying deep. But suppose that snow 
continued to fall ! What is there to hinder it ? The 
same God who sends us snow for one day could do the 
like for fifty days if he pleased. Why not ? And when 
the frost pinches us so severely, why should it not be 
continued month after month ? We can only thank the 
goodness which does not send " His cold" to such an 
extent that our spirits expire. Travellers toward the 
North Pole tremble as they think of this question, 
" Who can stand before his cold ?" For cold has a de- 
gree of omnipotence in it when God is pleased to let it 
loose. Let us thank God for the restraining mercy by 
which he holds the cold in check. 

Not only negatively, but positively there is mercy 
in the snow. Is not that a suggestive metaphor ? " He 
giveth snow like wool." The snow is said to warm the 
earth ; it protects those little plants w T hich have just be- 
gun to peep above the ground, and might otherwise be 
frost-bitten ; as with a garment of down the snow pro- 
tects them from the extreme severity of cold. Hence 
Watts sings, in his version of the hundred and forty- 
seventh Psalm — 

" His flakes of snowlike wool he sends, 
And thus the springing corn defends. " 

It was an idea of the ancients that snow warmed the 
heart of the soil, and gave it fertility, and therefore. 
they praised God for it. Certainly there is much mercy 
in the frost, for pestilence might run a far longer race 
if it were not that the frost cries to it, " Hitherto shalt 
thou come, but no farther." Noxious insects would 
multiply until they devoured the precious fruits of the 
earth, if sharp nights did not destroy millions of them, 
so that these pests are swept off the earth. Though man 



46 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

may think himself a loser by the cold, he is a great ulti- 
mate gainer by the decree of Providence which ordains 
winter. The quaint saying of one of the old writers 
that " snow is wool, and frost is fire, and ice is bread, 
and rain is drink," is true, though it sounds like a par- 
adox. There is no doubt that frost in breaking up the 
soil promotes fruitfulness, and so the ice becomes bread. 
Thus those agencies, which for the moment deprive 
our workers of their means of sustenance, are the 
means by which God supplies every living thing. 
Mark, then, God's goodness as clearly in the snow and 
frost as in the thaw which clears the winter's work away. 
Christian, remember the goodness of God in the frost 
of adversity. Rest assured that when God is pleased to 
send out the biting winds of affliction he is in them, and 
he is always love, as much love in sorrow as when he 
breathes upon you the soft south wind of joy. See the 
lovingkindness of God in every work of his hand ! 
Praise him — he maketh summer and winter — let your 
song go round the year ! Praise him — he giveth 
day and sendeth night — thank him at all hours ! Cast 
not away your confidence, it hath great recompense of 
reward. As David wove the snow, and rain, and 
stormy wind into a song, even so combine your trials, 
your tribulations, your difficulties and adversities into a 
sweet psalm of praise and say perpetually — ■ 

" Let us, with a gladsome mind, 
Praise the Lord, for he is kind. " 

Thus much upon the operations of nature. It is a very 
tempting theme, but other fields invite me. 

II. I would address you very earnestly and solemn- 
ly Upon THOSE OPERATIONS OF GRACE, OF WHICH FROST 
AND THAW ARE THE OUTWARD SYMBOLS. 



FROST AND THAW. 47 

There is a period- with God's own people when he 
comes to deal with them by the frost of the law. The law 
is to the soul as the cutting north wind. Faith can see 
love in it, but the carnal eye of sense cannot. It is a 
cold, terrible, comfortless blast. To be exposed to the 
full force of the law of God would be to be frost-bitten 
with everlasting destruction ; and even to feel it for a 
season would congeal the marrow of one's bones, and 
make one's whole being stiff with affright. " Who can 
stand before his cold?" When the law comes forth 
thundering from its treasuries, who can stand before it ? 
The effect of law-work upon the soul is to bind up the 
rivers of human delight. No man can rejoice when the 
terrors of conscience are upon him. When the law of 
God is sweeping through the soul, music and dancing 
lose their joy, the bowl forgets its power to cheer, and 
the enchantments of earth are broken. The rivers of 
pleasure freeze to icy despondency. The buds of hope 
are suddenly nipped, and the soul finds no comfort. It 
was satisfied once to grow rich, but rust and canker 
are now upon all gold and silver. Every promising 
hope is frost-bitten, and the spirit is winter-bound in 
despair. This cold makes the sinner feel how ragged 
his gaiments are. He could strut about, when it was 
summer weather, and think his rags right royal robes, 
but now the cold frost finds out every rent in his gar- 
ment, and in the hands of the terrible law he shivers like 
the leaves upon the aspen. The north wind of judg- 
ment searches the man through and through. He did 
not know what was in him, but now he sees his inward 
parts to be filled with corruption and rottenness. These 
are some of the terrors of the wintry breath of the law. 

This frost of law and terrors only tends to harden. 



48 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

Nothing splits the rock or makes the cliff tumble like 
frost when succeeded by thaw, but frost alone makes 
the earth like a mass of iron, breaking the ploughshare 
which would seek to pierce it. A sinner under the influ- 
ence of the law of God, apart from the gospel, is hard- 
ened by despair, and cries, " There is no hope, and 
therefore after my lusts will I go. Whereas there is no 
heaven for me after this life, I will make a heaven out 
of this earth ; and since hell awaits me, I will at least 
enjoy such sweets as sin may afford me here." This is 
not the fault of the law ; the blame lies with the cor- 
rupt heart which is hardened by it ; yet, nevertheless, 
such is its effect. 

When the Lord has wrought by the frost of the law, 
he sends the thaw of the gospel. When the south wind 
blows from the land of promise, bringing precious re- 
membrances of God's fatherly pity and tender loving- 
kindness, then straightway the heart begins to soften 
and a sense of blood-bought pardon speedily dissolves 
it. The eyes fill with tears, the heart melts in tender- 
ness, rivers of pleasure flow freely, and buds of hope 
open in the cheerful air. A heavenly spring whispers 
to the flowers that were sleeping in the cold earth ; they 
hear its voice, and lift up their heads, for " the rain is 
over and gone ; the flowers appear on the earth, the 
time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of 
the turtle is heard in our land." God sendeth his 
Word, saying, " Thy warfare is accomplished, and thy 
sin is pardoned ;" and when that blessedly cheering 
word comes with power to the soul, and the sweet 
breath of the Holy Spirit acts like the warm south wind 
upon the heart, then the waters flow, and the mind is 
filled with holy joy, and light, and liberty. 



FROST AND THAW. 49 

" The legal wintry state is gone, 
The frosts are fled, the spring comes on, 
The sacred turtle-dove we hear 
Proclaim the new, the joyful year." 

Having shown you that there is a parallel between 
frost and thaw in nature and law and gospel in grace, I 
would utter the same thoughts concerning grace which 
I gave you concerning nature. 

i. We began with the directness of God's works in 
nature. Now, beloved friends, remark the directness of 
God's works in grace. When the heart is truly affected 
by the law of God, when sin is made to appear exceed- 
ing sinful, when carnal hopes are frozen to death by the 
law, when the soul is made to feel its barrenness and 
utter death and ruin — this is the finger of God. Do not 
speak of the minister. It was well that he preached 
earnestly : God has used him as an instrument, but 
God worketh all. When the thaw of grace comes, I 
pray you discern the distinct hand of God in every beam 
of comfort which gladdens the troubled conscience, for 
it is the Lord alone who bindeth up the broken in heart 
and healeth all their wounds. We are far too apt to 
stop in instrumentalities. Folly makes men look to sac- 
raments for heart-breaking or heart-healing, but sacra- 
ments all say, " It is not in us." Some of you look to 
the preaching of the Word, and look no higher ; but all 
true preachers will tell you, "It is not in us." Elo- 
quence and earnestness at their highest pitch can neither 
break nor heal a heart. This is God's work. Ay, and 
not God's secondary work in the sense in which the phi- 
losopher admits that God is in the laws of nature, but 
God's personal and immediate work. He putteth forth 
his own hand wmen the conscience is humbled, and it is 



50 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

by his own right hand that the conscience is eased and 
cleansed. 

I desire that this thought may abide upon your 
minds, for you will not praise God else, nor will you be 
sound in doctrine. All departures from sound doc- 
trine on the point of conversion arise from forgetfulness 
that it is a divine work from first to last ; that the faint- 
est desire after Christ is as much the work of God as the 
gift of his dear Son ; and that our whole spiritual his- 
tory through, from the Alpha to the Omega, the Holy 
Spirit works in us to will and to do of his own good 
pleasure. As you have evidently seen the finger of 
God in casting forth his ice and in sending thaw, so I 
pray you recognize the handiwork of God in giving you 
a sense of sin, and in bringing you to the Saviour's feet. 
Join together in heartily praising the wonder-working 
God, who doeth all things according to the counsel of 
his will. 

' ' Our seeking thy face 

Was all of thy grace, 
Thy mercy demands, and shall have all the praise : 

No sinner can be 

Beforehand with thee, 
Thy grace is preventing, almighty and free." 

2. The second thought upon nature was the ease with 
which the Lord worked. There was no effort or disturb- 
ance. Transfer that to the work of grace. How easy 
it is for God to send law-work into the soul! You stub- 
born sinner, you cannot touch him, and even providence 
has failed to awaken him. He is dead — altogether dead 
in trespasses and sins. But if the glorious Lord will 
graciously send forth the wind of his Spirit, that will 
melt him. The swearing reprobate, whose mouth is 
blackened with profanity, if the Lord doth but look 



FROST AND THAW. 5 I 

upon him and make bare his arm of irresistible grace, 
shall yet praise God, and bless his name, and live to his 
honor. Do not limit the Holy One of Israel. Persecut- 
ing Saul became loving Paul, and why should not that 
person be saved of whose case you almost despair ? 
Your husband may have many points which make his 
case difficult, but no case is desperate with God. Your 
son may have offended both against heaven and against 
you, but God can save the most hardened. The sharpest 
frost of obstinate sin must yield to the thaw of grace. 
Even huge icebergs of crime must melt in the Gulf- 
stream of infinite love. ^ 

Poor sinner, I cannot leave this point without a 
word to you. Perhaps the Master has sent the frost to 
you, and you think it will never end. Let me encour- 
age you to hope, and yet more, to pray for gracious 
visitations. Miss Steele's verses will just suit your 
mournful yet hopeful state. 

" Stern winter throws his icy chains, 
Encircling nature round : 
How bleak, how comfortless the plains, 
■ Late with gay verdure crown'd ! 

The sun withdraws his vital beams, 

And light and warmth depart : 
And, drooping lifeless, nature seems 

An emblem of my heart — 

My heart, where mental winter reigns 

In night's dark mantle clad, 
Confired in cold, inactive chains ; 

How desolate and sad ! 

Return, O blissful sun, and bring 

Thy soul-reviving ray ; 
This mental winter shall be spring, 

This darkness cheerful day. " 

It is easy for God to deliver ) r ou. He says, " I have 



52 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

blotted out like a thick cloud thy transgressions." I 
stood the other evening looking up at a black cloud 
which was covering all the heavens, and I thought it 
would surely rain ; I entered the house, and when I 
came out again the sky was all blue — the wind had 
driven the cloud away. So may it be with your soul. 
It is an easy thing for the Lord to put away sin from 
repenting sinners. All obstacles which hindered our 
pardon were removed by Jesus when he died upon the 
tree, and if you believe in him you will find that he has 
cast your sins into the depths of the sea. If thou canst 
believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. 

3. The next thought concerning the Lord's work 
in naiure was the variety of it. Frost produces a sort of 
trinity in unity — snow, hoarfrost, ice ; and when the 
thaw comes its ways are many. So it is with God in 
the heart. Conviction comes not alike to all. Some 
convictions fall as the snow from heaven : you never 
hear the flakes descend, they alight so gently one upon 
the other. There are soft-coming convictions ; they 
are felt, but we can scarcely tell when we began to feel 
them. A true work of repentance may be of the gen- 
tlest kind. On the other hand, the Lord casteth forth 
his ice like morsels, the hailstones rattle against the 
window, and you think they will surely force their way 
into the room, and so to many persons convictions come 
beating down till they remind you of hailstones. There 
is variety. It is as true a frost which produces the 
noiseless snow as that which brings forth the terrible 
hail. Why should you want hailstones of terror ? Be 
thankful that God has visited you, but do not dictate 
to him the way of his working. 

With regard to the gospel thaw. If you may but 



FROST AND THAW. 



53 



be pardoned by Jesus; do not stipulate as to the man- 
ner of his grace. Thaw is universal and gradual, but 
its commencement is not always discernible. The 
chains of winter are unloosed by degrees : the surface 
ice and snow melt, and by and by the warmth perme- 
ates the entire mass till every rock of ice gives way. 
But while thaw is universal and visible in its effects you 
cannot see the mighty power which is doing ail this. 
Even so you must not expect to discern the Spirit of 
God. You will find him gradually operating upon the 
entire man, enlightening the understanding, freeing the 
will, delivering the heart from fear, inspiring hope, 
waking up the whole spirit, gradually and universally 
working upon the mind and producing the manifest ef- 
fects of comfort, and hope, and peace ; but you can no 
more see the Spirit of God than you can see the south 
wind. The effect of his power is to be felt, and when 
you feel it, do not marvel if it be somewhat different 
from what others have experienced. After all, there is 
a singular likeness in snow and hoarfrost and ice, and 
so there is a remarkable sameness in the experience of 
all God's children ; but still there is a great variety in 
the inward operations of divine grace. 

4. We must next notice the rapidity of God's works, 
" His word runneth very swiftly." It did not take 
many days to get rid of the last snow. A contractor 
w r ould take many a day to cart it away, but God send- 
eth forth his word, and the snow and ice disappear at 
once. So is it with the soul: the Lord often works 
rapidly when he cheers the heart. You may have been 
a long time under the operation of his frosty law, but 
there is no reason why you should be another hour 
under it. If the Spirit enables you to trust in the fin- 



54 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

ished work of Christ, you may go out of this house re- 
joicing that every sin is forgiven. Poor soul, do not 
think that the way from the horrible pit is to climb, step 
by step, to the top. Oh no ; Jesus can set your feet 
upon a rock ere the clock shall have gone round the 
dial. He can in an instant bring you from death to life, 
from condemnation to justification. " To-da3 7 shalt thou 
be with me in Paradise," was spoken to a dying thief, 
black and defiled with sin. Only believe in the atoning 
sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. 

5. Our last thought upon the operation of God was 
his goodness in it all. What a blessing that God did not 
send us more law-work than he did ! " Who can stand 
before his cold ?" Oh ! beloved, when God has taken 
away from man natural comfort, and made him feel di- 
vine wrath in his soul, it is an awful thing. Speak of a 
haunted man ; no man need be haunted with a worse 
ghost than the remembrance of his old sins. The child- 
ish tale of the sailor with the old man of the mountain 
on his back, who pressed him more and more heavily, is 
more than realized in the history of the troubled con- 
science. If one sin do but leap on a man's back, it will 
sink the sinner through every standing-place that he can 
possibly mount upon ; he will go down, down, under its 
weight, till he sinks to the lowest depths of hell. There 
is no place where sin can be borne till you get upon the 
Rock of Ages, and even there the joy is not that you bear 
it, but that Jesus has borne it all for you. The spirit 
would utterly fail before the law, if it had full sway. 
Thank God, " he stayeth his rough wind in the day of 
his east wind." At the same time, how thankful we 
may be, that we ever felt the law-frost in our soul. The 
folly of self-righteousness is killed by the winter of con- 



FROST AND THAW. 55 

viction. We should have been a thousand times more 
proud, and foolish, and worldly, than we are, if it had 
not been for the sharp frost with which the Lord nipped 
the growths of the flesh. 

But how shall w T e thank him sufficiently for the 
thaw of his lovingkindness ? How great the change 
which his mercy made in us as soon as its beams had 
reached our soul ! Hardness vanished, cold departed, 
warmth and love abounded, and the life-floods leaped in 
their channels. The Lord visited us, and we rose from 
our grave of despair, even as the seeds arise from the 
earth. As the bulb of the crocus holds up its golden 
cup to be filled with sunshine, so did our new-born faith 
open itself to the glory of the Lord. As the primrose 
peeps up from the sod to gaze upon the sun, so did our 
hope look forth for the promise, and delight itself in 
the Lord. Thank God that spring-tide has with many 
of us matured into summer, and winter has gone never 
to return. We praise the Lord for this every day of our 
lives, and w T e will praise him when time shall be no 
more in that sunny land — 

" Where everlasting- spring abides, 
And never withering flowers. 
A thread-like stream alone divides 
That heavenly land from ours. " 

Believe in the Lord, ye who shiver in the frost of 
the law, and the thaw of love shall soon bring you warm 
days of joy and peace. So be it. Amen. 



THE CORN OF WHEAT DYING TO BRING 
FORTH FRUIT. 

" And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man 
should be glorified. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall 
into the ground and die, it abideth alone : but if it die, it bringeth forth much 
fruit. He that loveth his life' shall lose it : and he that hateth his life in this 
world shall keep it unto life eternal. " — John 12 : 23-25. 

Certain Greeks desired to see Jesus. These were 
Gentiles and it was remarkable that they should, just at 
this time, have sought an interview with our Lord. I 
suppose that the words " We would see Jesus" did not 
merely mean that they would like to look at him, for 
that they could have done in the public streets ; but 
they would " see" him as we speak of seeing a person 
with whom we wish to hold a conversation. They de- 
sired to be introduced to him, and to have a few words 
of instruction from him. 

These Greeks were the advanced guard of that great 
multitude that no man can number, of all nations, and 
people, and tongues, who are yet to come to Christ. 
The Saviour would naturally feel a measure of joy at 
the sight of them, but he did not say much about it, for 
his mind was absorbed just then with thoughts of his 
great sacrifice and its results ; yet he took so much no- 
tice of the coming of these Gentiles to him that it gave 
a color to the words which are here recorded by his 
servant John. 



THE CORN OF WHEAT DYING TO BRING FORTH FRUIT. 57 

I notice that the Saviour here displays Jus broad huvian- 
ity\ and announces himself as the " Son of man." He 
had done so before, but here with new intent. He says, 
" The hour is come, that the Son of man should be 
glorified." Not as " the Son of David" does he here 
speak of himself, but as " the Son of man." No longer 
does he make prominent the Jewish side of his mission, 
though as a preacher he w T as not sent save to the lost 
sheep of the house of Israel ; but as the dying Saviour 
he speaks of himself as one of the race, not the Son of 
Abraham, or of David, but " the Son of man": as much 
brother to the Gentile as to the Jew. Let us never for- 
get the broad humanity of the Lord Jesus. In him all 
kindreds of the earth are joined in one, for he is not 
ashamed to bear the nature of our universal manhood ; 
black and white, prince and pauper, sage and savage, 
all see in his veins the one blood by which all men are 
constituted one family. As the Son of man Jesus is 
near akin to every man that lives. 

Now, too, that the Greeks were come, our Lord speaks 
somewhat of his glory as approaching. " The hour is 
come," saith he, " that the Son of man should be glori- 
fied." He does not say " that the Son of man should be 
crucified," though that was true, and the crucifixion 
must come before the glorification ; but the sight of 
those first-fruits from among the Gentiles makes him 
dwell upon his glory. Though he remembers his death,, 
he speaks rather of the glory which would grow out of 
his great sacrifice. Remember, brethren, that Christ is 
glorified in the souls that he saves. As a physician wins 
honor by those he heals, so the Physician of souls gets 
glo^ out of those who come to him. When these de- 
vout Greeks came, saying, " Sirs, we would see Jesus," 



58 TALKS TO FARRIERS. 

though a mere desire to see him is only as the green 
blade, yet he rejoiced in it as the pledge of the harvest, 
and he saw in it the dawn of the glory of his cross. 

I think, too, that the coming of these Greeks some- 
what led the Saviour to use the metaphor of the buried corn. 
We are informed that wheat was largely mixed up with 
Grecian mysteries, but that is of small importance. It 
is more to the point that our Saviour was then under- 
going the process which would burst the Jewish husk in 
which, if I may use such terms, his human life had been 
enveloped. I mean this : aforetime our Lord said that 
he was not sent save to the lost sheep of the house of 
Israel, and when the Syrophenician woman pleaded for 
her daughter he reminded her of the restricted character 
of his commission as a prophet among men. When he 
sent out the seventy, he bade them not to go into the 
cities of the Samaritans, but to seek after the house of 
Israel only. Now, however, that blessed corn of wheat 
is breaking through its outer integument. Even be- 
fore it is put into the ground to die the divine corn of 
wheat begins to show its living power, and the true 
Christ is being manifested. The Christ of God, though 
assuredly the Son of David, was, on the Father's side, 
neither Jew nor Gentile, but simply man ; and the 
great sympathies of his heart were with all mankind. 
He regarded all whom he had chosen as his own breth- 
ren without distinction of sex, or nation, or the period 
of the world's history in which they should live ; and, at 
the sight of these Greeks, the true Christ came forth 
and manifested himself to the world as he had not 
done before. Hence, perhaps, the peculiar metaphor 
which 'we have now to explain. 

In our text, dear friends, we have two things upon 



THE CORN OF WHEAT DYING TO BRING FORTH FRUIT. 59 

which I will speak briefly, as I am helped of the Spirit. 
First, we have profound doctrinal teaching, and, secondly, 
we have practical moral principle. 

First, we have profound doctrinae teaching. 

Our Saviour suggested to his thoughtful disciples a 
number of what might be called doctrinal paradoxes. 

First, that, glorious as lie was, he was yet to be glorified. 
" The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glo- 
rified." Jesus was always glorious. It was a glorious 
thing for the human person of the Son of man to be 
personally one with the Godhead. Our Lord Jesus had 
also great glory all the while he was on earth, in the 
perfection of his moral character. The gracious end for 
which he came here was real glory to him : his conde- 
scending to be the Saviour of men was a great glorifica- 
tion of his loving character. His way of going about 
his work — the way in which he consecrated himself to 
his Father and was always about his Father's business, 
the way in which he put aside Satan with his blandish- 
ments, and would not be bribed by all the kingdoms of 
the world — all this was his glory. I should not speak 
incorrectly if I w r ere to say that Christ was really as to 
his moral nature never more glorious than when through- 
out his life on earth he was obscure, despised, rejected, 
and yet the faithful servant of God, and the ardent 
lover of the sons of men. The apostle says, " The 
Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we 
beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of 
the Father, full of grace and truth," in which he refers 
not only to the transfiguration, in which there were 
special glimpses of the divine glory, but to our Lord's 
tabernacling among men in the common walks of life. 
Saintly, spiritual minds beheld the glory of his life, the 



60 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

glory of grace and truth such as never before had been 
seen in any of the sons of men. But though he was 
thus, to all intents and purposes, already glorious, Jesus 
had yet to be glorified. Something more was to be 
added to his personal honor. Remember, then, that 
when you have the clearest conceptions of your Lord, 
there is still a glory to be added to all that you can see 
even with the word of God in your hands. Glorious as 
the living Son of man had been, there was a further 
glory to come upon him through his death, his resurrec- 
tion, and his entrance within the veil. He was a glo- 
rious Christ, and yet he had to be glorified. 

A second paradox is this — that his glory was to co?ne 
to him through shame. He says, " The hour is come, that 
the Son of man should be glorified," and then he speaks 
of his death. The greatest fulness of our Lord's glory 
arises out of his emptying himself, and becoming obedi- 
ent to death, even the death of the cross. It is his 
highest reputation that he made himself of no reputa- 
tion. His crown derives new lustre from his cross ; 
his ever living is rendered more honorable by the fact of 
his dying unto sin once. Those blessed cheeks would 
never have been so fair as they are in the eyes of his 
chosen if they had not once been spat upon. Those 
dear eyes had never had so overpowering a glance if 
they had not once been dimmed in the agonies of death 
for sinners. His hands are as gold rings set with the 
beryl, but their brightest adornments are the prints of 
the cruel nails. As the Son of God his glory was all his 
own by nature, but as Son of man his present splendor 
is due to the cross, and to the ignominy which sur- 
rounded it when he bore our sins in his own body. 
We must never forget this, and if ever we are tempted 



THE CORN OF WHEAT DYING TO BRING FORTH FRUIT. 6 1 

to merge the crucified Saviour in the coming King we 
should feel rebuked by the fact that thus we should rob 
our Lord of his highest honor. Whenever you hear 
men speak lightly of the atonement stand up for it at 
once, for out of this comes the main glory of your Lord 
and Master. They say, " Let him come down from the 
cross, and we will believe on him." If he did so what 
would remain to be believed ? It is on the cross, it is 
from the cross, it is through the cross that Jesus mounts 
to his throne, and the Son of man has a special honor in 
heaven to-day because he was slain and has redeemed us 
to God by his blood. 

The next paradox is this — J e sits must be alone or abide 
alone. Notice the text as I read it : " Except a corn of 
wheat fall into the ground and die," and so gets alone, 
" it abideth alone." The Son of man must be alone in 
the grave, or he will be alone in heaven. He must fall 
into the ground like the corn of wheat, and be there in 
the loneliness of death, or else he will abide alone. 
This is a paradox readily enough explained ; our Lord 
Jesus Christ as the Son of man, unless he had trodden 
the winepress alone, unless beneath the olives of Geth- 
semane he had wrestled on the ground, and as it were 
sunk into the ground until he died, if he had not been 
there alone, and if on the cross he had not cried, " My 
God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me ?" so that he 
felt quite deserted and alone, like the buried corn of 
wheat — could not have saved us. If he had not actually 
died he would as man have been alone forever : not 
without the eternal Father and the divine Spirit, not 
without the company of angels; but there had not been 
another man to keep him company. Our Lord Jesus 
cannot bear to be alone. A head without its members 



62 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

is a ghastly sight, crown it as you may. Know ye not 
that the church is his body, the fulness of him that fill- 
eth all in all ? Without his people Jesus would have 
been a shepherd without sheep ; surely it is not a 
very honorable office to be a shepherd without a flock. 

He would have been a husband without his spouse ; 
but he loves his bride so well that for this purpose did 
he leave his Father and become one flesh with her 
whom he had chosen. He clave to her, and died for 
her ; and had he not done so he would have been a 
bridegroom without a bride. This could never be. His 
heart is not of the kind that can enjoy a selfish happi- 
ness which is shared by none. If you have read Solo- 
mon's Song, where the heart of the Bridegroom is re- 
vealed, you will have seen that he desires the company of 
his love, his dove, his undefiled. His delights were 
with the sons of men. Simon Stylites on the top of a 
pillar is not Jesus Christ ; the hermit in his cave may 
mean well, but he finds no warrant for his solitude in 
him whose cross he professes to venerate. Jesus was 
the friend of men, not avoiding them, but seeking the 
lost. It was truly said of him, " This man receiveth 
sinners, and eateth with them." He draws all men 
unto him, and for this cause he was lifted up from the 
earth. Yet must this great attractive man have been 
alone in heaven if he had not been alone in Geth- 
semane, alone before Pilate, alone when mocked by sol- 
diers, and alone upon the cross. If this precious grain 
of wheat had not descended into the dread loneliness of 
death it had remained alone, but since he died he 
'"' bringeth forth much fruit." 

This brings us to the fourth paradox — Christ must die 
to give life. " Except a corn of wheat fall into the 



THE CORN OF WHEAT DYING TO" BRING FORTH FRUIT. 63 

ground and die, it abideth alone : but if it die, it bring- 
eth forth much fruit": Jesus must die to give life to 
others. Persons who do not think confound dying with 
non-existence, and living with existence — very, very 
different things. " The soul that sinneth it shall die :" 
it shall never go out of existence, but it shall die by 
being severed from God who is its life. There are many 
men who exist, and yet have not true life, and shall 
not see life, but " the wrath of God abideth on them." 
The grain of wheat when it is put into the ground dies ; 
do we mean that it ceases to be ? Not at all. What is 
death ? It is the resolution of anything possessing life 
into its primary elements. With us it is the body part- 
ing from the soul ; with a grain of wheat it is the dis- 
solving of the elements which made up the corn. Our 
divine Lord when put into the eatth did not see corrup- 
tion, but his soul was parted from his body for a while, 
and thus he died ; and unless he had literally and actually 
died he could not have given life to any of us. 

Beloved friends, this teaches us where the vital point 
of Christianity lies, (Christ 's death is the life of his teaching) 
See here : if Christ's preaching had been the essential 
point, or if his example had been the vital point, he 
could have brought forth fruit and multiplied Christians 
by his preaching, and by his example. But he declares 
that, except he shall die, he shall not bring forth 
fruit. Am I told that this was because his death would 
be the completion of his example, and the seal of his 
preaching? I admit that it was so, but I can conceive 
that if our Lord had rather continued to live on — if he 
had been here constantly going up and down the world 
preaching and living as he did, and if he had wrought 
miracles as he did, and put forth that mysterious, 



' 64 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

attracting power, which was always with him, he might 
have produced a marvellous number of disciples. If 
his teaching and living had been the way in which 
spiritual life could have been bestowed, without an 
atonement, why did not the Saviour prolong his life on 
earth ? But the fact is that no man among us can know 
anything about spiritual life except through the atone- 
ment. There is no way by which we can come to a 
knowledge of God except through the precious blood 
of Jesus Christ, by which we have access to the Father. 
If, as some tell us, the ethical part of Christianity is 
much more to be thought of than its peculiar doctrines, 
then, why did Jesus die at all ? The ethical might have 
been brought out better by a long life of holiness. He 
might have lived on till now if he had chosen, and still 
have preached, and still have set an example among the 
sons of men ; but he assures us that only by death could 
he have brought forth fruit. What, not with all that holy 
living ? No. What, not by that matchless teaching ? 
No. Not one among us could have been saved from 
eternal death except an expiation had been wrought by 
Jesus' sacrifice. Not one of us could have been quick- 
ened into spiritual life except Christ himself had died 
and risen from the dead. 

Brethren, all the spiritual life that there is in the 
(world is the result of Christ's death, j We live under a 
dispensation which shadows forth this truth to us. Life 
first came into the world by a creation : that was lost in 
the garden. Since then, the father of our race is Noah, 
and life by Noah came to us by a typical death, burial, 
and resurrection. Noah went in unto the ark, and was 
shut in, and so buried. In that ark Noah went among 
the dead, himself enveloped in the rain and in the ark, 



THE- CORN OF WHEAT DYING TO BRING FORTH FRUIT. 65 

and he came out into a new world, rising again, as it 
were, when the waters were assuaged. That is the way 
of life to-day. We are dead with Christ, we are buried 
with Christ, we are risen with Christ; and there is no real 
spiritual life in this world except that which has come 
to us by the process of death, burial, and resurrection 
with Christ. Do you know anything about this, dear 
friends ? — for if you do not, you know not the life of 
God. You know the theory, but do you know the ex- 
perimental power of this within your own spirit? When- 
ever we hear the doctrine of the atonement attacked, 
let us stand up for it. Let us tell the world that while we 
value the life of Christ even more than they do, we know 
that it is not the example of Christ that saves anybody, 
but his death for our sakes. If the blessed Christ had lived 
here all these nineteen hundred years, without sin, teach- 
ing all his marvellous precepts with his own sublime 
and simple eloquence, yet he had not produced one 
single atom of spiritual life among all the sons of men. 
Without dying he brings forth no fruit. If you want 
life, my dear hearer, you will not get it as an unregener- 
ate man by attempting to imitate the example of Christ. 
You may get good of a certain sort that way, but you 
will never obtain spiritual life and eternal salvation by 
that method. You must believe on Jesus as dying for 
you. You have to understand that the blood of Jesus 
Christ, God's dear Son, cleanses us from all sin. When 
you have learned that truth, you shall study his life with 
advantage ; but unless you recognize that the grain of 
wheat is cast into the ground, and made to die, you will 
never realize any fruit from it in your own soul, or see 
fruit in the souls of others. 

One other blessed lesson of deep divinity is to be 



66 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

learnt from our text : it is this — since Jesus Christ did 
really fall into the ground and die, we may expect much as the 
result of it. "If it die, it bringeth forth much fruit." 
Some have a little Christ, and they expect to see little 
things come of him. I have met with good people who 
appear to think that Jesus Christ died for the sound 
people who worship at Zoar Chapel, and, perhaps, for a 
few more who go to Ebenezer in a neighboring town, 
and they hope that one day a chosen few — a scanty 
company indeed they are, and they do their best by 
mutual quarrelling to make them fewer — will glorify 
God for the salvation of a very small remnant. I will 
not blame these dear brethren, but I do wish that 
their hearts were enlarged. We do not yet know all 
the fruit that is to come out of our Lord Jesus. May 
there not come a day when the millions of London shall 
worship God with one consent ? I look for a day when 
the knowledge of the glory of God shall cover the earth 
as the waters cover the sea, when kings shall fall down 
before the Son of God, and all nations shall call him 
blessed. " It is too much to expect," says one ; " mis- 
sions make very slow progress." I know all that, but 
missions are not the seed : all that we look for is to 
come out of that corn of wheat which fell into the 
ground and died: this is to bring forth much fruit. When 
I think of my Master's blessed person as perfect Son of 
God and Son of man ; when I think of the infinite glory 
which he laid aside, and of the unutterable pangs he 
bore, I ask whether angels can compute the value of 
the sacrifice he offered. God only knows the love of 
God that was manifested in the death of his Son, and 
do you think that there will be all this planning and 
working and sacrifice of infinite love, and then an insig- 



THE CORN OF WHEAT DYING TO BRING FORTH FRUIT. 67 

niricant result ? It is not like God that it should be so. 
The travail of the Son of God shall not bring forth a 
scanty good. The result shall be commensurate with 
the means, and the effect shall be parallel with the 
cause. The Lord shall reign for ever and ever. Halle- 
lujah ! Ay, as the groanings of the cross must have 
astounded angels, so shall the results of the cross 
amaze the seraphim, and make them admire the excess 
of glory w r hich has arisen from the shameful death of 
their Lord. O beloved, great things are to come out of 
our Jesus yet. Courage, you that are dispirited. Be 
brave, you soldiers of the cross. Victory awaits your 
banner. Wait patiently, work hopefully, surfer joyfully, 
for the kingdom is the Lord's, and he is the governor 
among the nations. 

Thus have I spoken upon profound divinity 
I close with a few words upon practical instruc- 
tion. Learn now that what is true of Christ is in 
measure true of every child of God : " Except a corn of 
wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone : 
but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit." This is so 
far applicable to us, as the next verse indicates — " He 
that loveth his life shall lose it ; and he that hateth his 
life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal." 

First, we must die if we are to live. There is no spir- 
itual life for you, for me, for any man, except by dying 
into it. Have you a fine-spun righteousness of your 
own ? It must die. Have you any faith in yourself ? 
It must die. The sentence of death must be in your- 
self, and then you shall enter into life. The with- 
ering power of the Spirit of God must be experienced 
before his quickening influence can be known : " The 
grass withereth, the flower fadeth : because the spirit 



68 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

of the Lord bloweth upon it." You must be slain by 
the sword of the Spirit before you can be made alive by 
the breath of the Spirit. 

Next, we must surrender everything to keep it. " He 
that loveth his life shall lose it." Brother, you can never 
have spiritual life, hope, joy, peace, heaven, except by 
giving everything up into God's hands. You shall 
have everything in Christ when you are willing to 
have nothing of your own. You must ground your 
weapons of rebellion, you must drop the plumes of your 
pride, you must give up into God's hand all that you 
are and all that you have ; and if you do not thus lose 
everything in will, )> - ou shall lose everything in fact ; 
indeed, you have lost it already. A full surrender of 
everything to God is the only way to keep it. Some of 
God's people find this literally true. I have known a 
mother keep back her child from God, and the child has 
died. Wealthy people have worshipped their wealth, 
and as they were God's people, he has broken their 
idols into shivers. You must lose your all if you would 
keep it, and renounce your most precious thing if you 
would have it preserved to you. 

Next, we must lose self in order to find self . " He that 
hateth his life shall keep it unto life eternal." You must 
entirely give up living for yourself, and then you your- 
self shall live. The man w T ho lives for himself does not 
live; he loses the essence, the pleasure, the crown of ex- 
istence ; but if you live for others and for God you will 
find the life of life. " Seek ye first the kingdom of God 
and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added 
unto you." There is no way of finding yourself in per- 
sonal joy like losing yourself in the joy of others. 

Oncemore: ifyou wish to be the means of life to others, 



THE CORN OF WHEAT DYING TO BRING FORTH FRUIT. 69 

you must in your measure die yourself. " Oh," say you, 
" will it actually come to death ?" Well, it may not, 
but you should be prepared for it if it should Who 
have most largely blessed the present age ? I will tell 
you. I believe we owe our gospel liberties mainly to 
the poor men and women who died at the stake for the 
faith. Call them Lollards, Anabaptists, or what you 
will, the men who died for it gave life to the holy 
cause. Some of all ranks did this, from bishops down- 
ward to poor boys. Many of them could not preach 
from the pulpit, but they preached grander sermons 
from the fagots than all the reformers could thunder 
from their rostrums. They fell into the ground and 
died, and the "much fruit" abides to this day. The 
self-sacrificing death of her saints was the life and in- 
crease of the church. If we wish to achieve a great pur- 
pose, establish a great truth, and raise up a great agency 
for good, it must be by the surrender of ourselves, yea, 
of our very lives to the one all-absorbing purpose. Not 
else can we succeed. There is no giving out to others, 
without taking so much out of yourself. He who serves 
God and finds that it is easy work will find it hard work 
to give in his account at the last. A sermon that costs 
nothing is worth nothing ; if it did not come from the 
heart it will not go to the heart. Take it as a rule that 
wear and tear must go on, even to exhaustion, if we are 
to be largely useful. Death precedes growth. The Sa- 
viour of others cannot save himself. We must not, there- 
fore, grudge the lives of those who die under the evil 
climate of Africa, if they die for Christ ; nor must we 
murmur if here and there God's best servants are cut 
down by brain exhaustion : it is the law of divine 
husbandry that by death cometh increase. 



70 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

And you. dear friend, must not say, " Oh, I cannot 
longer teach in the Sunday-school : I work so hard all 
the week that I — I — I " — shall I finish the sentence 
for you ? You work so hard for yourself all the week 
that you cannot work for God one day in the week. Is 
that it? " No, not quite so, but I am so fagged." Very 
true, but think of your Lord. He knew what weariness 
was for you, and yet he wearied not in well-doing. You 
will never come to sweat of blood as he did. Come, dear 
friend, will you be a corn of wheat laid up on the shelf 
alone ? Will you be like that wheat in the mummy's 
hand, unfruitful and forgottten, or would you grow ? 
I hear you say, " Sow me somewhere." I will try to 
do so. Let me drop you into the Sunday-school field, 
or into the Tract-lending acre, or into the Street-preach- 
ing parcel of land. " But if I make any great exertion 
it will half kill me." Yes; and if it shall quite kill, 
you will then prove the text, "If it die, it bringeth 
forth much fruit." Those who have killed themselves 
of late in our Lord's service are not so numerous that 
we need be distressed by the fear that an enormous 
sacrifice of life is likely to occur. Little cause is there 
just now to repress fanaticism, but far more reason to 
denounce self-seeking. O, my brethren, let us rise to 
a condition of consecration more worthy of our Lord 
and of his glorious cause, and henceforth may we be 
eager to be as the buried, hidden, dying, yet fruit-bear- 
ing wheat for the glory of our Lord. Thus have I merely 
glanced at the text ; another day may it be our privi- 
lege to dive into its depths. 



THE PLOUGHMAN. 

" Doth the ploughman plough all day to sow ?" — Isaiah 28 : 24. 

Unless they are cultivated, fields yield us nothing 
but briers and thistles. In this we may see ourselves. 
Unless the great Husbandman shall till us by his grace, 
we shall produce nothing that is good, but everything 
that is evil. If one of these days I shall hear that a 
country has been discovered where wheat grows with- 
out the work of the farmer, I may then, perhaps, hope 
to find one of our race who will bring forth holiness 
without the grace of God. Hitherto all land on which 
the foot of man has trodden has needed labor and care ; 
and even so among men the need of gracious tillage is 
universal. Jesus says to all of us, " Ye must be born 
again." Unless God the Holy Spirit breaks up the 
heart with the plough of the law, and sows it with the 
seed of the gospel, not a single ear of holiness will any 
of us produce, even though we may be children of godly 
parents, and may be regarded as excellent moral people 
by those with whom we live. 

Yes, and the plough is needed not only to produce 
that which is good, but to destroy that which is evil. 
There are diseases which, in the course of ages, wear 
themselves out, and do not appear again among men ; 
and there may be forms of vice, which under changed 
circumstances, do not so much abound as they used to 



72 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

do ; but human nature will always remain the same, 
and therefore there will always be plentiful crops of the 
weeds of sin in man's fields, and nothing can keep these 
under but spiritual husbandry, carried on by the Spirit 
of God. You cannot destroy weeds by exhortations, 
nor can you tear out the roots of sin from the soul by 
moral suasion ; something sharper and more effectual 
must be brought to bear upon them. God must put his 
own right hand to the plough, or the hemlock of sin will 
never give place to the corn of holiness. Good is never 
spontaneous in unrenewed humanity, and evil is never 
cut up till the ploughshare of almighty grace is driven 
through it. 

The text leads our thoughts in this direction, and 
gives us practical guidance through asking the simple 
question, " Doth the ploughman plough all day to sow ?" 
This question maybe answered in the affirmative; "Yes, in 
the proper season he does plough all day to sow ;" and, 
secondly, this text may more properly be answered in the neg- 
ative, " No, the ploughman does not plough every day to 
sow ; he has other work to do according to the season." 

I. First, our text may be answered in the affirm- 
ative — " Yes, the ploughman does plough all day to 
sow." 

When it is ploughing time he keeps on at it till his 
work is done ; if it requires one day, or two days, or 
twenty days to finish his fields, he continues at his task 
while the weather permits. The perseverance of the 
ploughman is instructive, and it teaches us a double les- 
son. When the Lord comes to plough the heart of 
man he ploughs all day, and herein is his patience ; and, 
secondly, so ought the Lord's servants to labor all day 
with men's hearts, and herein is our perseverance. 



THE PLOUGHMAN. 73 

"Doth the ploughman plough - all day?" So doth 
God plough the heart of man, and herein is his patience. The 
team was in the field in the case of some of us very early 
in the morning, for our first recollections have to do 
with conscience and the furrows of pain which it made 
in our youthful mind. When we were little children 
we woke in the night under a sense of sin ; our father's 
teaching and our mother's prayers made deep and pain- 
ful impressions upon us, and though we did not then 
yield our hearts to God, we were greatly stirred, and all 
indifference to religion was made impossible. When we 
were boys at school the reading of a chapter in the Word 
of God, or the death of a playmate, or an address at a 
Bible-class, or a solemn sermon, so affected us that we 
were uneasy for weeks. The strivings of the Spirit of 
God within urged us to think of higher and better things. 
Though we quenched the Spirit, though we stifled con- 
viction, yet we bore the marks of the ploughshare; fur- 
rows were made in the soul, and certain foul weeds of 
evil were cut up by the roots although no seed of grace 
was as yet sown in our hearts. Some have continued 
in this state for many years, ploughed but not sown ; 
but, blessed be God, it was not so with others of us ; 
for we had not left boyhood before the good seed of the 
gospel fell upon our heart. Alas ! there are many who 
do not thus yield to grace, and with them the ploughman 
ploughs all day to sow. I have seen the young man com- 
ing to London in his youth, yielding to its temptations, 
drinking in its poisoned sweets, violating his con- 
science, and yet continuing unhappy in it all, fearful, un- 
restful, stirred about even as the soil is agitated by the 
plough. In how many cases has this kind of work gone 
on for years, and all to no avail. Ah ! and I have known 



74 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

the man come to middle life, and still he has not re- 
ceived the good seed, neither has the ground of his hard 
heart been thoroughly broken up. He has gone on in 
business without God ; day after day he has risen and 
gone to bed again with no more religion than his horses: 
and yet all this while there have been ringing in his ears 
warnings of judgment to come, and chidings of con- 
science, so that he has not been at peace. After a power- 
ful sermon he has not enjoyed his meals, or been able to 
sleep, for he has asked himself, " What shall I do in the 
end thereof?" The ploughman has ploughed all day, 
till the evening shadows have lengthened and the day 
has faded to a close. What a mercy it is when the 
furrows are at last made ready and the good seed is cast 
in, to be received, nurtured, and multiplied a hundred 
fold. 

It is mournful to remember that we have seen 
this ploughing continue till the sun has touched the ho- 
rizon and the night dews have begun to fall. Even then 
the long-suffering God has followed up his work — 
ploughing, ploughing, ploughing, ploughing, till dark- 
ness ended all. Do I address any aged ones whose lease 
must soon run out ? I would affectionately beseech them 
to consider their position. What ! Threescore years old 
and yet unsaved ? Forty years did God suffer the man- 
ners of Israel in the wilderness, but he has borne with 
you for sixty years. Seventy years old, and yet unregen- 
erated ! Ah, my friend, you will have but little time 
in which to serve your Saviour before you go to heaven. 
But will you go there at all ? Is it not growing dread- 
fully likely that you will' die in your sins and perish 
for ever ? How happy are those who are brought to 
Christ in earlv life ; but still remember — 



THE PLOUGHMAN. }5 

"•While the lamp holds out to burn, 
The vilest sinner may return. " 

It is late, it is very late, but is not too late. The plough- 
man ploughs all day ; and the Lord waits that he may 
be gracious unto you. I have seen many aged persons 
converted, and therefore I would encourage other old 
folks to believe in Jesus. I once read a sermon in which 
a minister asserted that he had seldom known any con- 
verted who were over forty years of age if they had been 
hearers of the gospel all their lives. There is certainly 
much need to caution those who are guilty of delay, but 
there must be no manufacturing of facts. Whatever 
that minister might think, or even observe, my own 
observation leads me to believe that about as many 
people are converted to God at one age as at another, 
taking into consideration the fact that the young are 
much more numerous than the old. It is a dreadful 
thing to have remained an unbeliever all these years ; but 
yet the grace of God does not stop short at a certain 
age ; those who enter the vineyard at the eleventh hour 
shall have their penny, and grace shall be glorified in 
the old as well as in the young. Come along, old friend, 
Jesus Christ invites you to come to him even now, though 
you have stood out so long. You have been a sadly 
tough piece of ground, and the ploughman has ploughed 
all day ; but if at last the sods are turned, and the heart 
is lying in ridges, 'there is hope of you yet. 

" Doth the ploughman plough all day ?" I answer 
— Yes, however long the day may be, God in mercy 
ploughs still, he is long-suffering, and full of tenderness 
and mercy and grace. Do not spurn such patience, but 
yield to the Lord who has acted toward you with so 
much gentle love. 



76 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

The text, however, not only sets forth patience on 
God's part, but it teaches perseverance on our part. " Doth 
the ploughman plough all day ?" Yes, he does ; then if 
I am seeking Christ, ought I to be discouraged because 
I do not immediately find him ? The promise is, " He 
that asketh, receiveth ; and he that seeketh findeth ; 
and to him that knocketh it shall be opened." There 
may be reasons why the door is not opened at our first 
knock. What then ? " Doth the ploughman plough 
all day ?" Then will I knock all day. It may be at the 
first seeking I may not find ; what then ? " Doth the 
ploughman plough all day ?" Then will I seek all day. 
It may happen that at my first asking I shall not receive ; 
what then? " Doth the ploughman plough all day ?" 
Then will I ask all day ? Friends, if you have begun 
to seek the Lord, the short way is, " Believe on the Lord 
Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. ' ' Do that at once. 
In the name of God do it at once, and you are saved at 
once. May the Spirit of God bring you to faith in Jesus, 
and you are at once in the kingdom of Christ. But if 
peradventure in seeking the Lord, you are ignorant of 
this, or do not see your way, never give up seeking ; 
get to the foot of the cross, lay hold of it, and cry, " If I 
perish I will perish here. Lord, I come to thee in Jesus 
Christ for mercy, and if thou art not pleased to look 
at me immediately, and forgive my sins, I will cry to 
thee till thou dost." When God's Holy Spirit brings a 
man to downright earnest prayer which will not take a 
denial, he is not far from peace. Careless indifference 
and shilly-shallying with God hold men in bondage. 
They find peace when their hearts are roused to strong 
resolve to seek until they find. I like to see men search 
the Scriptures till they learn the way of salvation, and 



.THE PLOUGHMAN. 77 

hear the gospel till their souls live by it. If they are 
resolved to drive the plough through doubts, and fears, 
and difficulties, till they come to salvation, they shall 
soon come to it by the grace of God. 

The same is true in seeking the salvation of others. 
" Doth the ploughman plough all day ?" Yes, when it 
is ploughing-time. Then, so will I work on, and on, 
and on. I will pray and preach, or pray and teach, 
however long the day may be that God shall appoint 
me, for — 

" 'Tis all my business here below 
The precious gospel seed to sow. " 

Brother worker, are you getting a little weary ? 
Never mind, rouse yourself, and plough on for the love 
of Jesus, and dying men. Our day of work has in it 
only the appointed hours, and while they last let us fulfil 
our task. Ploughing is hard work ; but as there will be 
no harvest without it, let us just put forth all our strength, 
and never flag till we have performed our Lord's will, 
and by his holy Spirit wrought conviction in men's souls. 
Some soils are very stiff, and cling together, and the 
labor is heart-breaking ; others are like the unreclaimed 
waste, full of roots and tangled bramble ; they need a 
steam plough, and we must pray the Lord to make us 
such, for we cannot leave them untilled, and therefore we 
must put forth more strength that the labor may be done. 

I heard some time ago of a minister who called to 
see a poor man who was dying, but he was not able to 
gain admittance ; he called the next morning, and 
some idle excuse was made so that he could not see 
him ; he called again the next morning, but he was 
still refused ; he went on till he called twenty times in 
vain, but on the twenty-first occasion he was permitted 



73 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

to see the sufferer, and by God's grace he saved a soul 
from death. ' ' Why do you tell your child a thing twenty 
times?" asked some one of a mother. "Because," 
said she, " I find nineteen times is not enough." Now, 
when a soul is to be ploughed, it may so happen that 
hundreds of furrows will not do it. What then ? Why, 
plough all day till the work is done. Whether you 
are ministers, missionaries, teachers, or private soul- 
winners, never grow weary, for your work is noble, 
and the reward of it is infinite. The grace of God is 
seen in our being permitted to engage in such holy 
service ; it is greatly magnified in sustaining us in it, 
and it will be pre-eminently conspicuous in enabling 
us to hold out till we can say, " I have finished the work 
which thou gavest me to do." 

We prize that which costs us labor and service, and 
we shall set all the higher value upon the saved ones 
when the Lord grants them to our efforts. It is good 
for us to learn the value of our sheaves by going forth 
weeping to the sowing. When you think of the plough- 
man's ploughing all day, be moved to plod on in earn- 
est efforts to win souls. Seek — 

" With cries, entreaties, tears to save 
And snatch them from the fiery wave. " 

Doth the ploughman plough all day for a little bit of 
oats or barley, and will not you plough all day for souls 
that shall live for ever, if saved, to adore the grace of 
God, or shall live for ever, if unsaved, in outer darkness 
and woe ? Oh, by the terrors of the wrath to come and 
the glory that is to be repealed, gird up your loins, 
and plough all day. 

I would beg all the members of our churches to 



THE PLOUGHMAN. 79 

keep their hands on the gospel plough, and their eyes 
straight before them. " Doth the ploughman plough 
all day ?" let Christians do the same. Start close to 
the hedge, and go right clown to the bottom of the 
field. Plough as close to the ditch as you can, and 
leave small headtands. What though there are fallen 
women, thieves, and drunkards in the slums around, 
do not neglect any of them ; for if you leave a stretch 
of land to the weeds they will soon spread among 
the wheat. When you have gone right to the end of 
the field once, what shall you do next ? Why, just 
turn round, and make for the place you started 
from. And when you have thus been up and down, 
what next? Why, up and down again. And what 
next ? Why, up and down again. You have visited 
that district with tracts ; do it again, fifty-two 
times in the year — multiply your furrows. We must 
learn how to continue in well doing. Your eternal 
destiny is to go on doing good for ever and ever, and it 
is well to go through a rehearsal here. So just plough 
on, plough on, and look for results as the reward of 
continued perseverance. Ploughing is not done with 
a skip and jump ; the ploughman ploughs all day. 
Dash and flash are all very fine in some things, but not 
in ploughing ; there the work must be steady, persistent, 
regular. Certain persons soon give it up, it wears out 
their gloves, blisters their soft hands, tires their bones, 
and makes them eat their bread rather more in the 
sweat of their face than they care for. Those whom 
the Lord fills with his grace will keep to their ploughing 
year after year, and verily I say unto you, they shall 
have their reward. " Doth the ploughman plough all 
day?" Then let us do the same, being assured that 



8o TALKS TO FARMERS. 

one day every hill and valley shall be tilled and sown, 
and every desert and wilderness shall yield a harvest 
for our Lord, and the angel reapers shall descend, and 
the shouts of the harvest-home shall fill both earth and 
heaven. 

II. But, now, somewhat briefly, 'the text may be 
answered in the negative. " Doth the ploughman 
plough all day to sow ?" No, he does not always 
plough. After he has ploughed he breaks the clods, 
sows, reaps, and threshes. In the chapter before us you 
will see that other works of husbandry are mentioned. 
The ploughman has many other things to do beside 
ploughing. There is an advance in wmat he does ; this 
teaches us that there is the like on God's part, and 
should be the like on ours. 

First, on God' s part, there is an advance in what he does. 
" Doth the ploughman plough all day ?" No, he goes for- 
ward to other matters. It may be that in the case of some 
of you the Lord has been using certain painful agencies 
to plough you. You are feeling the terrors of the law, 
the bitterness of sin, the holiness of God, the weakness 
of the flesh, and the shadow of the wrath to come. Is 
this going to last forever ? Will it continue till the 
spirit fails and the soul expires ? Listen : " Doth the 
ploughman plough all day ? " No, he is preparing for 
something else — he ploughs to sow. Thus doth the 
Lord deal with you ; therefore be of good courage, there 
is an ending to the wounding and slaying, and bet- 
ter things are in store for you. You are poor and needy, 
and you seek water, and there is none and your tongue 
faileth for thirst ; but the Lord will hear you, and de- 
liver you. He will not contend forever, neither will he 
be always wroth. He will turn again, and he will have 



'fHE PLOUGHMAN. 8 I 

compassion upon us. He will not always make furrows 
by his chiding, he will come and cast in the precious 
corn of consolation, and water it with the dews of heaven 
and smile upon it with the sunlight of his grace ; and 
there shall soon be in you, first the blade, then the ear, 
after that the full corn in the ear, and in due season you 
shall joy as with the joy of harvest. O ye who are sore 
wounded in the place of dragons, I hear you cry, 
Doth God always send terror and conviction of sin ? 
Listen to this : " If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall 
eat the good of the land," and what is the call of God to 
the willing and obedient but this : " Believe on the Lord 
Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved " ? Thou shalt be 
saved now, find peace now, if thou wilt have done with 
thyself and all looking to thine own good works to save 
thee, and wilt turn to him who paid the ransom for 
thee upon the tree. The Lord is gentle and tender and 
full of compassion, he will not always chide, neither 
will he keep his anger for ever. Many of your doubts 
and fears come of unbelief, or of Satan, or of the flesh, 
and are not of God at all. Blame him not for what he 
does not send, and does not wish you to suffer. His 
mind is for your peace, not for your distress ; for thus 
he speaks : " Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people, saith 
your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and 
cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her 
iniquity is pardoned." " I have blotted out, as a thick 
cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins : 
return unto me ; for I have redeemed thee." He has 
smitten, but he will smile ; he has wounded, but he will 
heal ; he has slain, but he will make alive ; therefore 
turn unto him at once and receive comfort at his hands. 
The ploughman does not plough for ever, else would he 



82 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

reap no harvest ; and God is not always heart-breaking, 
he also draws near on heart-healing errands. 

You see, then, that the great husbandman advances 
from painful agencies, and I want you to mark that he 
goes on to productive work in the hearts of his people. 
He will take away the furrows, you shall not see them, 
for the corn will cover them with beauty. As she that 
was in travail remembers no more her sorrow for joy that 
a man is born into the world, so shall you, who are 
under the legal rod, remember no more the misery of 
conviction, for God will sow you with grace, and make 
your soul, even your poor, barren soul, to bring forth 
fruit unto his praise and glory. " Oh !" says one, " I 
wish that would come true to me." It will. " Doth 
the ploughman plough all day to sow?" You expect 
by-and-by to see ploughed fields clothed with springing 
corn ; and you may look to see repentant hearts glad- 
dened with forgiveness. Therefore, be of good courage. 

You shall advance, also, to a joy fid experience. See 
that ploughman ; he whistles as he ploughs, he does not 
own much of this world's goods, but yet he is merry. 
He looks forward to the day when he will be on the 
top of the big wagon, joining in the shout of the har- 
vest home, and so he ploughs in hope, expecting a crop. 
And, dear soul, God will yet joy and rejoice over you 
when you believe in Jesus Christ, and you, too, shall 
be brimful of joy. Be of good cheer, the better portion 
is yet to come, press forward to it. Gospel sorrowing 
leads on to gospel hoping, believing, rejoicing, and the 
rejoicing knows no end. God will not chasten all day, 
but he will lead you on from strength to strength, from 
glory unto glory, till you shall be like himself. This, 
then, is the advance that there is in God's work among 



THE PLOUGHMAN. 8$ 

men, from painful agencies to productive work and 
joyful experience. 

But what if the ploughing should never lead to sow- 
ing ; what if you should be disturbed in conscience, 
and should go on to resist it all ? Then God will make 
another advance, but it will be to put up the plough, 
and to command the clouds that they rain no rain upon 
the land, and then its end is to be burned. Oh ! man, 
there is nothing more awful than for your soul to be left 
to go out of cultivation ; God himself giving you up. 
Surely that is hell. He that is unholy will be unholy 
still. The law of fixity of character will operate eter- 
nally, and no hand of the merciful One shall come 
near to till the soul again. What worse than this can 
happen ? 

We conclude by saying that this advance is a lesson to 
its j for we, too, are to go forward. " Doth the ploughman 
plough all day ?" No, he ploughs to sow, and in due time 
he sows. Some churches seem to think that all they 
have to do is to plough; at least, all they attempt is a kind 
of scratching of the soil, and talking of what they are 
going to do. It is fine talk, certainly ; but doth the 
ploughman plough all day ? You may draw up a large 
programme and promise great things ; but pray do not 
stop there. Don't be making furrows all day ; do get 
to your sowing. I fancy that those who promise most 
perform the least. Men who do much in the world have 
no programme at first, their course works itself out by 
its own inner force by the grace of God ; they do not 
propose but perform. They do not plough all day to 
sow, but they are like our Lord's servant in the parable 
of whom he saith, " the sow T er went forth to sow." 

Let the ministers of Christ also follow the rule of 



84 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

advance. Let us go from preaching the laiv to preaching 
the gospel. " Doth the ploughman plough all day ?" He 
does plough ; he would not sow in hope if he had not 
first prepared the ground. Robbie Flockart, who 
preached for years in the Edinboro' streets, says, " It is 
in vain to sew with the silk thread of the gospel, unless 
you use the sharp needle of the law." Some of my 
brethren do not care to preach eternal wrath and its ter- 
rors. This is a cruel mercy, for they ruin souls by hid- 
ing from them their ruin. If they must needs try to 
sew without a needle, I cannot help it ; but I do not 
mean to be so foolish myself ; my needle may be old- 
fashioned, but it is sharp, and when it carries with it the 
silken thread of the gospel, I am sure good work is done 
by it. You cannot get a. harvest if you are afraid of dis- 
turbing the soil, nor can you save souls if you never 
warn them of hell fire. We must tell the sinner what 
God has revealed about sin, righteousness, and judgment 
to come. Still, brethren, we must not plough all day. 
No, no, the preaching of the law is only preparatory 
to the preaching of the gospel. The stress of our busi- 
ness lies in proclaiming glad tidings. We are not fol- 
lowers of John the Baptist, but of Jesus Christ ; we are 
not rugged prophets of woe, but joyful heralds of grace. 
Be not satisfied with revival services, and stirring ap- 
peals, but preach the doctrines of grace so as to bring 
out the full compass of covenant truth. Ploughing 
has had its turn, now for planting and watering. Re- 
proof may now give place to consolation. We are first to 
make disciples of men, and then to teach them to ob- 
serve all things whatsoever Jesus has commanded us. 
We must pass on from the rudiments to the higher 
truths, from laying foundations to further upbuilding. 



THE PLOUGHMAN. S5 

And now, another lesson to those of you who are as 
yet hearers and nothing more. I want you to go from 
ploughing to something better, namely, from hearing and 
fearing to believing. How many years some of you have 
been hearing the gospel ! Do you mean to continue in 
that state for ever ? Will you never believe in him of 
whom you hear so much ? You have been stirred up a 
good deal ; the other night you went home almost 
broken-hearted ; I should think you are ploughed 
enough by this time; and yet you have not received the 
seed of eternal life, for you have not believed in the Lord 
Jesus. It is dreadful to be always on the brink of ever- 
lasting life, and yet never to be alive. It will be an 
awful thing to be almost in heaven, and yet forever 
shut out. It is a wretched thing to rush into a railway 
station just in time to see the train steaming out ; I 
had much rather be half-an-hour behind time. To lose 
a train by half-a-second is most annoying. Alas, if you 
go on. as you have done for years, you will have your hand 
on the latch of heaven, and yet be shut out. You will 
be within a hair's-breadth of glory, and yet be covered 
with eternal shame. O beware of being so near to the 
kingdom, and yet lost ; almost, but not altogether saved. 
God grant that you may not be among those who are 
ploughed, and ploughed, and ploughed, and yet never 
sown. It will be of no avail at the last to cry, " Lord, 
we have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast 
taught in our streets. We had a seat at the chapel, we 
attended the services on week-nights as well as on Sun- 
days, we went to prayer-meetings, we joined a Bible- 
class, we distributed tracts, we subscribed our guinea to 
the funds, we gave up every open sin, we used a form 
of prayer, and read a chapter of the Bible every day." 



86 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

All these things may be done, and yet there may be no 
saving faith in the Lord Jesus. Take heed lest your 
Lord should answer, " With all this, your heart never 
came to me ; therefore, depart from me, I never knew 
you." If Jesus once knows a man he always knows 
him. He can never say to me, " I never knew you," for 
he has known me, as his poor dependant, a beggar for 
years at his door. Some of you have been all that is 
good except that you never came into contact with 
Christ, never trusted him, never knew him. Ah me, 
how sad your state ! Will it be always so ? 

Lastly, I would say to you who are being ploughed 
and are agitated about your souls, Go at once to the next 
stage of believing. Oh ! if people did but know how 
simple a thing believing is, surely they would believe. 
Alas, they do not know it, and it becomes all the 
more difficult to them because in itself it is so easy. 
The difficulty of believing lies in there being no diffi- 
culty in it. " If the prophet had bid thee do some great 
thing, wouldst thou not have done it ?" Oh, yes, you 
would have done it, and you would have thought it easy 
too ; but when he simply says, " Wash, and be clean," 
there is a difficulty with pride and self. If you can truly 
say that you are willing to abase your pride, and do 
anything which the Lord bids you, then I pray you 
understand that there is no further preparation required, 
and believe in Jesus at once. May the Holy Spirit make 
you sick of self, and ready to accept the gospel. The 
word is nigh thee, let it be believed ; it is in thy mouth, 
let it be swallowed down ; it is in thy heart, let it be 
trusted. With your heart believe in Jesus, and with 
your mouth make confession of him, and you shall be 
saved. A main part of faith lies in the giving up of all 



T-HE PLOUGHMAX. &] 

other confidences. O give up at once every false hope. 
I tried once to show what faith was by quoting Dr. 
Watts 's lines : 

" A guilty, weak, and helpless worm, 
On thy kind arms I fall. 
Be thou my strength, and righteousness, 
My Jesus and my all. " 

I tried to represent faith as falling into Christ's arms, 
and I thought I made it so plain *that the wayfaring 
man could not err therein. When Iliad finished preach- 
ing, a young man came to me and said, " But, sir, I 
cannot fall upon Christ's arms." I replied at once, 
" Tumble into them anyhow ; faint away into Christ's 
arms, or die into Christ's arms, so long as you get 
there." Many talk of what they can do and what they 
cannot do, and I fear they miss the vital point. Faith 
is leaving off can-ing and cannot-ing, and leaving it all 
to Christ, for he can do all things, though you can do 
nothing. " Doth the ploughman plough all day to 
sow ?" No, he makes progress, and goes from plough- 
ing to sowing. Go, and do thou likewise ; sow unto 
the Spirit the precious seed of faith in Christ, and the 
Lord will give thee a joyous harvest. 



PLOUGHING THE ROCK. 

" Shall horses run upon the rock ? will one plough there with oxen ? " — 
Amos 6 : 12. 

These expressions are proverbs, taken from the 
familiar sayings of the east country. A proverb is gen- 
erally a sword with two edges, or, if I may so say, it 
has many edges, or is all edge, and hence it may be 
turned this way and that way, and every part of it will 
have force and point. A proverb has often many bear- 
ings, and you cannot always tell what was the precise 
meaning of him who uttered it. The connection would 
abundantly tolerate two senses in this place. An 
ancient commentator asserts that it has seven meanings, 
and that any one of them would be consistent with the 
context. I cannot deny the assertion, and if it be cor- 
rect it is only one among many instances of the manifold 
wisdom of the Word of God. Like those curiously 
carved Chinese balls in which there is one ball within 
another, so in many a holy text there is sense within 
sense, teaching within teaching, and each one worthy 
of the Spirit of God. 

The first sense of the text upon which I would say 
just a word or two is this : The prophet is expostulating 
with ungodly men upon their pursuit of happiness where 
it never can be found. They were endeavoring to grow 
rich and great and strong by oppression. The prophet 



PLOUGHING THE ROCK. 89 

says, " Ye have turned judgment into gall, and the fruit 
of righteousness into hemlock." Justice was bought and 
sold among them, and the book of the law was made the 
instrument of fraud. " Yet," says the prophet, " there 
is no gain to be gotten in this way — no real profit, no 
true happiness. As well may horses run upon a rock, 
and oxen plough the sand ; it is labor in vain." 

If any of you try to content yourselves with this 
world, any hope to find a heaven in the midst of your 
business and your family without looking upward for 
it, you labor in vain. If you hope to find pleasure in 
sin, and think that it will go well with you if you despise 
the law of God, you will make a great mistake. You 
might as well seek for roses in the grottoes of the sea, 
or look for pearls on the pavements of the city. You 
will find what your soul requires nowhere but in God. 
To seek after happiness in evil deeds is to plough a rock 
of granite. To labor after true prosperity by dishonest 
means is as useless as to till the sandy shore. " Where- 
fore do you spend your money for that which is not 
bread, and your labor for that which satisfieth not?" 
Young man, you are killing yourself with ambition ; 
you seek your own honor and emolument, and this is a 
poor, poor object for an immortal soul. And you, too, 
sir, are wearing out your life with care ; your mind and 
body both fail you in endeavoring to amass riches, as if 
a man's life consisted in the abundance of the things 
which he possesses ; you zyi ploughing a rock ; your 
cares will not bring you joy of heart or content of spirit ; 
your toil will end in failure. And you, too, who labor 
to weave a righteousness by your works apart from 
Christ and fancy that with the diligent use of outward 
ceremonies you may be able to do the work of the Holy 



90 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

Spirit upon your own heart, you, too, are ploughing 
thankless rock. The strength of fallen nature exerted 
at its utmost can never save a soul. Why, then, plough 
the rock any longer ? Give over the foolish task. 

So far, I believe, we have not misread the text, but 
have mentioned a very probable meaning of the words ; 
still another strikes me, which I think equally suitable, 
and upon it I shall dwell, by God's help. 

It is this. God will not always send his ministers to call 
men to repentance. When men's hearts remain obdu- 
rate, and they do not and will not repent, then God 
will not always deal with them in mercy. " My Spirit 
shall not always strive with man." There is a time of 
ploughing, but when it is evident that the heart is 
wilfully hardened, then wisdom itself suggests to mercy 
that she should give over her efforts. " Shall horses run 
upon the rock ? will one plough there with oxen ?" No, 
there is a limit to the efforts of kindness, and in fulness 
of time the labor ceases, and the rock remains un- 
ploughed henceforth and for ever. 

I. Taking that sense, we shall speak upon it, and 
remark, first, that ministers labor to break up men's 
hearts ; the wise preacher tries by the power of the 
Holy Ghost to break up the hard clods of the heart, so 
that it may receive the heavenly seed. 

Many truths are used like sharp ploughshares to 
break up the heart. Men must be made to feel that they 
have sinned, and they must be led to repent of sin. 
They must receive Christ, not with the head only, but 
with the heart ; for with the heart man believeth unto 
righteousness. There must be emotion ; we must cut 
into the heart with the ploughshare of the law. A farmer 



PLOUGHING THE ROCK. 9 I 

who is too tender-hearted to tear and harrow the land 
will never see a harvest. Here is the failing of certain 
divines, they are afraid of hurting any one's feelings, 
and so they keep clear of all the truths which are likely 
to excite fear or grief. They have not a sharp plough- 
share on their premises, and are never likely to have a 
stack in their rickyard. They angle without hooks for 
fear of hurting the fish, and lire without bullets out of 
respect to the feelings of the birds. This kind of love 
is real cruelty to men's souls. It is much the same as 
if a surgeon should permit a patient to die because he 
would not pain him with the lancet, or by the necessary 
removal of a limb. It is a terrible tenderness which 
leaves men to sink into hell rather than distress their 
minds. It is pleasant to prophesy smooth things, but 
woe unto the man who thus degrades himself. Is this 
the spirit of Christ ? Did he conceal the sinner's peril ? 
Did he cast doubt upon the unquenchable fire and the un- 
dying worm ? Did he lull souls into slumber by smooth 
strains of flattery ? Nay, but with honest love and 
anxious concern he warned men of the wrath to come, 
and bade them repent or perish. Let the servant of the 
Lord Jesus in this thing follow his Master, and plough 
deep with a sharp ploughshare, which will not be balked 
by the hardest clods. This we must school ourselves to 
do. If we really love the souls of men, let us prove it 
by honest speech. The hard heart must be broken, 
or it will still refuse the Saviour who was sent to bind 
up the broken-hearted. There are some things which 
men may or may not have, and yet may be saved ; but 
those things which go with the ploughing of the heart 
are indispensable ; there must be a holy fear and a humble 
trembling before God ; there must be an acknowledg- 



92 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

ment of guilt and a penitent petition for mercy ; there 
must, in a word, be a thorough ploughing of the soul 
before we can expect the seed to bring forth fruit. 

II. But the text indicates to us that at times min- 
isters labor in vain. " Shall horses run upon the rock ? 
will one plough there with oxen ?" In a short time a 
ploughman feels whether the plough will go or not, 
and so does the minister. He may use the very same 
words in one place which he has used in another, but 
he feels in the one place great joy and hopefulness in 
preaching, while with another audience he has heavy 
work, and little hope. The plough in the last case seems 
to jump out of the furrow ; and a bit of the share is 
broken off now and then. He says to himself, " I do not 
know how it is, but I do not get on at this," and he finds 
that his Master has sent him to work upon a particu- 
larly heavy soil. All laborers for Christ know that 
this is occasionally the case. You must have found it so 
in a Sunday-school class, or in a cottage meeting, or in 
any other gathering where you have tried to teach and 
preach Jesus. You have said to yourself every now and 
then, ' ' Now I am ploughing a rock. Before, I turned up 
rich mould which a yoke of oxen might plough with ease, 
and a horse might even run at the work ; but now the 
horse may tug, and the oxen may wearily toil till they 
gall their shoulders, but they cannot cut a furrow ; the 
rock is stubborn to the last degree." 

There are such hearers in all congregations. They 
are as iron, and yet they are side by side with a fine plot 
of ground. Their sister, their brother, their son, their 
daughter, all these have readily felt the power of the 
gospel ; but they do not feel it. They hear it respect- 



PLOUGHING THE ROCK. 93 

fully ; and they so far allow it free course that they per- 
mit it to go in at one ear and out at the other, but they 
will have nothing more to do with it. They would not 
like to be Sabbath-breakers and stop away from wor- 
ship ; they therefore do the gospel the questionable 
compliment of coming where it is preached and then 
refusing to regard it. They are hard, hard, hard bits 
of rock, the plough does not touch them. 

Many, on the other hand, are equally hard ; but it 
is in another way. The impression made by the word 
is not deep or permanent. They receive it with joy, but 
they do not retain it. They listen with attention, but it 
never comes to practice with them. They hear about 
repentance, but they never repent. They hear about 
faith, but they never believe. They are good judges of 
what the gospel is, and yet they have never accepted it 
for themselves. They will not eat ; but still they insist 
that good bread shall be put on the table. They are 
great sticklers for the very things which they personally 
reject. They are moved to feeling ; they shed tears 
occasionally ; but still their hearts are not really broken 
up by the word. They go their way, and forget what 
manner of men they are. They are rocky-hearted 
through and through ; all our attempts to plough them 
are failures. 

Now this is all the worse, because certain of these 
rocky-hearted people have been ploughed for years, and 
have become harder instead of softer. Once or twice 
ploughing, and a broken share or two, and a disappointed 
ploughman or two, we might not mind, if they would 
yield at last ; but these have since their childhood known 
the gospel and never given way before its power. It is a 
good while since their childhood now with some of them. 



94 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

Their hair is turning gray, and they themselves are get- 
ting feeble with years. They have been entreated 
and persuaded times beyond number, but labor has been 
lost upon them. In fact, they used to feel the word, in 
a certain fashion, far more years ago than they do now. 
The sun, which softens wax, hardens clay, and the same 
gospel which has brought others to tenderness and re- 
pentance has exercised a contrary effect upon them, and 
made them more careless about divine things than they 
were in their youth. This is a mournful state of things, 
is it not ? 

Why are certain men so extremely rocky ? Some 
are so from a peculiar stolidity of nature, There are many 
people in the world* whom you cannot very well move, 
they have a great deal of granite in their constitution, and 
are more nearly related to Mr. Obstinate than to Mr. 
Pliable. Now, I do not think badly of these people, 
because one knows what it is to preach to an excitable 
people, ami to get them all stirred, and to know that 
in the end they are none the better ; whereas some of the 
more stolid and immovable people when they are moved 
are moved indeed ; when they do feel they feel intensely, 
and they retain any impression that is made. A little 
chip made in granite by very hard blows will abide there, 
while the lashing of water, which is easy enough, will 
leave no trace even for a moment. It is a grand thing 
to get hold of a fine piece of rock and to exercise faith 
about it. The Lord's own hammer has mighty power to 
break, and in the breaking great glory comes to the Most 
High. 

Worse still, certain men are hard because of their 
infidelity — not heart-infidelity all of it, but an infidel- 
ity which springs out of a desire not to believe, which 



PLOUGHING THE ROCK. 95 

has helped them to discover difficulties. These difficul- 
ties exist, and were meant to exist, for there would be no 
room for faith if everything were as plain as the nose 
on one's face. These persons have gradually come to 
doubt, or to think that they doubt, essential truths, and 
this renders them impervious to the gospel of Christ. 

A much more numerous body are orthodox enough, 
but hard-hearted for all that. Worldliness hardens a 
man in every way. It often dries up all charity to the 
poor, because the man must make money, and he thinks 
that the poor-rates are sufficient excuse for neglecting 
the offices of charity. He has no time to think of the 
next world ; he must spend all his thoughts upon the 
present one. Money is tight, and therefore he must hold 
it tight ; and when money brings in little interest, he 
finds therein a reason for being the more niggardly. He 
has no time for prayer, he must get down to the counting- 
house. He has no time for reading his Bible, his ledger 
wants him. You may knock at his door, but his heart 
is not at home ; it is in the counting-house, wherein he 
lives and moves and has his being. His god is his gold, 
his bliss is his business, his all in all is himself. What 
is the use of preaching to him ? As well may horses run 
upon a rock, or oxen drag a plough across a field sheeted 
with iron a mile thick. 

With some, too, there is a hardness, produced by what 
I might almost call the opposite of stern worldliness, 
namely, a general lev ty. They are naturally butterflies 
flitting about and doing nothing. They never think, or 
want to think. Half a thought exhausts them, and they 
must needs be diverted, or their feeble minds will utterly 
weary. They live in a round of amusement. To them 
the world is a stage, and all the men and women only 



g6 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

players. It is of little use to preach to them ; there is 
no depth of earth in their superficial nature ; beneath a 
sprinkling of shifting worthless sand lies an impenetra- 
ble rock ofutter stupidity and senselessness. I might 
thus multiply reasons why some are harder than others, 
but it is a well-assured fact that they are so, and there I 
leave the matter. 

III. I shall now ask everybody to judge whether the 
running of horses upon a rock and the ploughing there 
with oxen shall always be continued. I assert that it is 

UNREASONABLE TO EXPECT THAT God's SERVANTS SHOULD 

always continue to labor in vain. These people have 
been preached to, taught, instructed, admonished, ex- 
postulated with, and advised ; shall this unrecompensed 
work be always performed ? We have given them a fair 
trial ; what do reason and prudence say ? Are we bound 
to persevere till we are worn out by this unsuccessful 
work? We will ask it of men who plough their own 
farms ; do they recommend perseverance when failure 
is certain ? Shall horses run upon the rock ? Shall one 
plough there with oxen ? Surely not for ever. 

I think we shall all agree that labor in vain cannot 
be continued for ever if we consider the ploughman. He 
does not want to be much considered ; but still his 
Master does not overlook him. See how weary he 
grows when the work discourages him. He goes to his 
Master with, "Who hath believed our report, and to 
whom is the arm of the Lord revealed ?" " Why hast 
thou sent me," says he, " to a people that have ears but 
hear not ? They sit as thy people sit, and they hear as 
thy people hear, and then they go their way and they 
forget every word that is spoken, and they obey not 



PLOUGHING THE ROCK. 97 

the voice of the Lord." See how disappointed the 
preacher becomes. It is always hard work when you 
appear to get no forwarder, although you do your 
utmost. No man, whoever he may be, likes to be set 
upon work which appears to be altogether a waste of 
time and effort. To his own mind it seems to have a 
touch of the ridiculous about it, and he fears that he 
will be despised of his fellows for aiming at the impos- 
sible. Shall it always be the lot of God's ministers to 
be trifled with ? Will the great Husbandman bid his 
ploughmen spill their lives for nought ? Must his 
preachers continue to cast pearls before swine ? If the 
consecrated workers are so bidden by their Lord they 
will persevere in their painful task ; but their Master is 
considerace of them, and I ask you also to consider 
whether it is reasonable to expect a zealous heart to be 
for ever occupied with the salvation of those who never 
respond to its anxiety ? Shall the horses always plough 
upon the rock ? Shall the oxen always labor there ? 

Again, there is the Master to be considered. The 
Lord — is he always to be resisted and provoked ? Many 
of you have had eternal life set before you as the result of 
believing in Jesus ; and you have refused to believe. 
It is a wonder that my Lord has not said to me, " You 
have done your duty with them ; never set Christ before 
them again ; my Son shall not be insulted." If you offer 
a beggar in the street a shilling and he will not have it, 
you cheerfully put it into your purse and go your way ; 
you do not entreat him to hav r e his wants relieved. But, 
behold, our God in mercy begs sinners to come to him, 
and implores them to accept his Son. In his condescen- 
sion he even stands like a salesman in the market, cry- 
ing, " Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the 



98 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

waters, and he that hath no money ; come, buy wine 
and milk without money and without price." In an- 
other place he says of himself, "All day long have I 
stretched out my hands to a disobedient and gainsay- 
ing generation." If the Lord of mercy has been refused 
so long in the sight of you who reverence him, does not 
some indignation mingle with your pity, and while you 
love sinners and would have them saved, do you not 
feel in your heart that there must be an end to such 
insulting behavior ? I ask even the careless to think of 
the matter in this light, and if they do not respect the 
ploughman, yet let them have regard to his Master. 

And then, again, there are so many other people, who 
are needing the gospel, and who would receive it if 
they had it, that it would seem to be wise to leave 
off wearying oneself about those who despise it. What 
did our Lord say ? He said that if the mighty things 
which had been done in Bethsaida and Chorazin had been 
done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented. 
What is more wonderful still, he says that if he had 
wrought the same miracles in Sodom and Gomorrah 
which were wrought in Capernaum, they would have 
repented in sackcloth and ashes. Does it not occur to 
us at once to give the word to those who will have it, 
and leave the despisers to perish in their own wilful 
ness ? Does not reason say, " Let us send this medi- 
cine where there are sick people who will value it ?" 
Thousands of people are willing to hear the gospel. See 
how they crowd wherever the preacher goes — how they 
tread upon one another in their anxiety to listen to 
him ; and if these people who hear him every day will 
not receive his message, " in God's name," saith he, 
" let me go where there is a probability of finding soil 



PLOUGHING THE ROCK. 99 

that can be ploughed." " Shall horses run upon the 
rock? Will one plough there with oxen?" Must I 
work always where nothing comes of it ? Does not 
reason say, let the word go to China, to Hindostan, or 
to the utmost parts of the earth, where they will receive 
it ; for those who have it preached in the corners of 
their, streets despise it ? 

I shall not lengthen this argument, but shall sol- 
emnly put the question again. Would any of you con- 
tinue to pursue an object when it has proved to be hope- 
less ? Do you wonder that when the Lord has sent his 
servants to speak kind, gracious, tender words, and 
men have not heard, he says to them, " They are joined 
unto their idols ; let them alone " ? There is a boun- 
dary to the patience of men, and we soon arrive at it ; 
and assuredly there is a limit, though it is long before 
we outrun it, to the patience of God. " At length," 
he says, "it is enough. My Spirit shall no longer 
strive with them." If the Lord says this can any of us 
complain ? Is not this the way of wisdom ? Does not 
prudence itself dictate it ? Any thoughtful mind will 
say, " Ay, ay, a rock cannot be ploughed for ever." 

IV. Fourthly. There must be an alteration, then, 
and that speedily. The oxen shall be taken off from 
such toil. It can be easily done, and done soon. It can 
be effected in three ways. 

First, the unprofitable hearer can be removed so 
that he shall no more hear the gospel from the lips of his 
best approved minister. There is a preacher who has 
some sort of power over him ; but as he rejects his 
testimony, and remains impenitent, the man shall be 
removed to another town, where he shall hear monoto- 



100 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

nous discourses which will not touch his conscience. He 
shall go where he shall be no longer persuaded and en- 
treated ; and there he will sleep himself into hell. That 
may be readily enough done ; perhaps some of you are 
making arrangements even now for your own removal 
from the field of hope. 

Another way is to take away the ploughman. He 
has done his work as best he could, and he shall be 
released from his hopeless task. He is weary. Let him 
go home. The soil would not break up, but he could 
not help that ; let him have his wage. He has broken 
his plough at the work ; let him go home and hear his 
Lord say, " Well done." He was willing to keep on at 
the disheartening labor as long as his Master bade him ; 
but it is evidently useless, therefore let him go home, 
for his work is done. He has been sore sick, let him die, 
and enter into his rest. This is by no means improb- 
able. 

Or, there may happen something else. The Lord 
may say, " That piece of work shall never trouble the 
ploughman any more. I will take it away." And he 
may take it away in this fashion : the man who has 
heard the gospel, but rejected it, will die. I pray my 
Master that he will not suffer any one of you to die in 
your sins, for then we cannot reach you any more, or 
indulge the faintest hope for you. No prayer of ours 
can follow you into eternity. There is one name by 
which you may be saved, and that name is sounded in 
your ears — the name of Jesus ; but if you reject him 
now, even that name will not save you. If you do not 
take Jesus to be your Saviour he will appear as your 
judge. I pray you, do not destroy your own souls by 
continuing to be obstinate against almighty love. 



PLOUGHING THE ROCK. IOI 

God grant that some better thing may happen. Can 
nothing else be done ? This soil is rock ; can we not 
sow it without breaking it ? No. Without repentance 
there is no remission of sin. But is there not a way of 
saving men without the grace of God ? The Lord Jesus 
did not say so ; but he said, " He that believeth and is 
baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall 
be damned." He did not hint at a middle course or 
hold out a " larger hope ;" but he declared " He that 
believeth not shall be damned," and so he must be. 
Dream not of a back door to heaven, for the Lord has 
provided none. 

What then ? Shall the preacher continue his fruit- 
less toil ? If there is only half a hope left him, he is 
willing to go on and say, " Hear, ye deaf, and see, ye 
blind, and live, ye dead." He will even so speak this 
day, for his Master bids him preach the gospel to every 
creature ; but it will be hard work to repeat the word of 
exhortation for years to those who will not hear it. 

Happily there is one other turn which affairs may 
take. There is a God in heaven, let us pray to him to 
put forth his power. Jesus is at his side, let us invoke 
his interposition. The Holy Ghost is almighty, let us 
call for his aid. Brothers who plough and sisters who 
pray, cry to the Master for help. The horse and the 
ox evidently fail, but there remains One above who is 
able to work great marvels. Did he not once speak to 
the rock, and turn the flint into a stream of water ? 
Let us pray him to do the same now. 

And, oh, if there is one who feels and mourns that 
his heart is like a piece of rock, I am glad he feels it ; for 
he who feels that his heart is a rock gives some evidence 
that the flint is being transformed. O rock, instead of 



102 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

smiting thee, as Moses smote the rock in the wilderness 
and erred therein, I would speak to thee. O rock, 
wouldst thou become like wax ? O rock, wouldst 
thou dissolve into rivers of repentance ? Hearken to 
God's voice ! O rock, break with good desire ! O 
rock, dissolve with longing after Christ, for God is 
working upon thee now. Who knows but at this 
very moment thou shalt begin to crumble down. Dost 
thou feel the power of the Word ? Does the sharp 
ploughshare touch thee just now ? Break and break 
again, till by contrition thou art dissolved, for then will 
the good seed of the gospel come to thee, and thou 
shalt receive it into thy bosom, and we shall all behold 
the fruit thereof. And so I will fling one more handful 
of good corn, and have done. If thou desirest eternal 
life, trust Jesus Christ, and thou art saved at once. 
" Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the 
earth," says Christ, " for I am God, and beside me there 
is none else." He that believeth in him hath everlast- 
ing life. " Like as Moses lifted up the serpent in the 
wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up : 
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but 
have eternal life." 

O Lord, break up the rock, and let the seed drop in 
among its broken substance, and get thou a harvest 
from the dissolved granite, at this time, for Jesus Christ's 
sake. Amen. 



THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER. 

" And when much people were gathered together, and were come to him 
out of every city, he spake by a parable: a sower went out to sow his seed: and 
as he sowed, some fell by the wayside; and it was trodden down, and the fowls 
of the air devoured it. And some fell upon a rock ; and as soon as it was 
sprung up, it withered away, because it lacked moisture. And some fell 
among thorns ; and the thorns sprang up with it and choked it. And other 
fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bare fruit an hundredfold. And 
when he had said these things, he cried, He that hath ears to hear, let him 
hear."— Luke 8 : 4-S. 

In our country, when a sower goes forth to his 
work, he generally enters into an enclosed field, and 
scatters the seed from his basket along every ridge and 
furrow ; but in the East, the corn-growing country, hard 
by a small town, is usually an open area. It is divided 
into different properties, but there are no visible divis- 
ions, except the ancient landmarks, or perhaps ridges of 
stones. Through these open lands there are footpaths, 
the most frequented being called the highways. You 
must not imagine these highways to be like our macad- 
amized roads ; they are merely paths, trodden tolerably 
hard. Here and there you notice by-ways, along which 
travellers who wish to avoid the public road may jour- 
ney with a little more safety when the main road is 
infested with robbers ; hasty travellers also strike out 
short cuts for themselves, and so open fresh tracks for 
others. When the sower goes forth to sow he finds a 
plot of ground scratched over with the primitive Eastern 



104 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

plough ; he aims at scattering his seed there most plen- 
tifully ; but a path runs through the centre of his field, 
and unless he is willing to leave a broad headland, he 
must throw a handful upon it. Yonder, a rock crops 
out in the midst of the ploughed land, and the seed falls 
on its shallow soil. Here is a corner full of the roots of 
nettles and thistles, and he flings a little here ; the corn 
and the nettles come up together, and the thorns being 
the stronger soon choke the seed, so that it brings forth 
no fruit unto perfection. The recollection that the 
Bible was written in the East, and that its metaphors 
and allusions must be explained to us by Eastern travel- 
lers, will often help us to understand a passage far better 
than if we think of English customs. 

The preacher of the gospel is like the sower. He 
does not make his seed ; it is given him by his divine 
Master. No man could create the smallest grain that 
ever grew upon the earth, much less the celestial seed 
of eternal life. The minister goes to his Master in 
secret, and asks him to teach him his gospel, and thus 
he fills his basket with the good seed of the kingdom. 
He then goes forth in his Master's name and scatters 
precious truth. If he knew where the best soil was to 
be found, perhaps he might limit himself to that which 
had been prepared by the plough of conviction ; but 
not knowing men's hearts, it is his business to preach the 
gospel to every creature — to throw a handful on the 
hardened heart, and another on the mind which is over- 
grown with the cares and pleasures of the world. He 
has to leave the seed in the care of the Lord who gave it 
to him, for he is not responsible for the harvest, he is 
only accountable for the care and industry with which 
he does his work. If no single ear should ever make 



THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER. 105 

glad the reaper, the sower will be rewarded by his Mas- 
ter if he had planted the right seed with careful hand. 
If it were not for this fact with what despairing agony 
should we utter the cry of Esaias, " Who hath believed 
our report ? and to whom is the arm of the Lord re- 
vealed ?" 

Our duty is not measured by the character of our 
hearers, but by the command of our God. We are 
bound to preach the gospel, whether men will hear, or 
whether they will forbear. It is ours to sow beside all 
waters. Let men's hearts be what they may the minister 
must preach the gospel to them ; he must sow the seed 
on the rock as well as in the furrow, on the highway as 
well as in the ploughed field. 

I shall now address myself to the four classes of hear- 
ers mentioned in our Lord's parable. We have, first of 
all, those who are represented by the way-side, those 
who are " hearers only"; then those represented by the 
stony ground j these are transiently impressed, but the 
word produces no lasting fruit ; then, those among 
thorns, on whom a good impression is produced, but the 
cares of this life, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the 
pleasures of the world choke the seed ; and lastly, that 
small class — God be pleased to multiply it exceedingly 
— that small class of good ground hearers, in whom the 
Word brings forth abundant fruit. 

I. First of all, I address myself to those hearts 
which are like the way-side : " Some fell by the way- 
side ; and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air 
devoured it." Many of you do not go to the place of 
worship desiring a blessing. You do not intend to 
worship God, or to be affected by anything that you 



106 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

hear. You are like the highway, which was never in- 
tended to be a 'cornfield. If a single grain of truth 
should fall into your heart and grow it would be as 
great a wonder as for ccrn to grow up in the street. If 
the seed shall be dexterously scattered, some of it will 
fall upon you, and rest for a while upon your thoughts. 
'Tis true you will not understand it ; but, nevertheless, 
if it be placed before you in an interesting style, you 
will talk about it till some more congenial entertain- 
ment shall attract you. Even this slender benefit is 
brief, for in a little season you will forget all that you 
have heard. Would to God we could hope that our 
words would tarry with you ; but we cannot hope it, for 
the soil of your heart is so hard beaten by continual 
traffic, that there is no hope of the seed finding a living 
root-hold. Satan is constantly passing over your heart 
with his company of blasphemies, lusts, lies, and vani- 
ties. The chariots of pride roll along it, and the feet of 
greedy mammon tread it till it is hard as adamant. 
Alas ! for the good seed, it ^ finds not a moment's res- 
pite ; crowds pass and repass ; in fact, your soul is an 
exchange, across which continually hurry the busy feet 
of those who make merchandise of the souls of men. 
You are buying and selling, but you little think that 
you are selling the truth, and that you are buying your 
soul's destruction. You have no time, you say, to think 
of religion. No, the road of your heart is such a 
crowded thoroughfare, that there is no room for the 
wheat to spring up. If it did begin to germinate, some 
rough foot would crush the green blade ere it could 
come to perfection. The seed has occasionally lain long 
enough to begin to sprout, but just then a new place of 
amusement has been opened, and you have entered 



THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER. 107 

there, and as with an iron heel, the germ of life that 
was in the seed was crushed out. Corn could not grow 
in Cornhill or Cheapside, however excellent the seed 
might be ; your heart is just like those crowded 
thoroughfares ; for so many cares and sins throng it^ 
and so many proud, vain, evil, rebellious thoughts 
against God pass through it, that the seed of truth can- 
not grow. 

We have looked at this hard roadside, let us now 
describe w T hat becomes of the good word, when it falls 
upon such a heart. It would have grown if it had fallen 
on right soil, but it has dropped into the wrong place, 
and it remains as dry as when it fell from the sower's 
hand. The word of the gospel lies upon the surface of 
such a heart, but never enters it. Like the snow, which 
sometimes falls upon our streets, drops upon the wet 
pavement, melts, and is gone at once, so is it with this 
man. The word has not time to quicken in his soul : 
it lies there an instant, but it never strikes root, or takes 
the slightest effect. 

Why do men come to hear if the word never enters 
their hearts ? That has often puzzled us. Some hear- 
ers would not be absent on the Sunday on any account; 
they are delighted to come up w T ith us to worship, but 
yet the tear never trickles down their cheek, their soul 
never mounts up to heaven on the wings of praise, nor 
do they truly join in our confessions of sin. They do 
not think of the wrath to come, nor of the future state 
of their souls. Their heart is as iron ; the minister 
might as well speak to a heap of stones as preach to 
them. What brings these senseless sinners here ? 
Surely we are as hopeful of converting lions and leop- 
ards as these untamed, insensible hearts. Oh feeling ! 



108 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

thou art fled to brutish beasts, and men have lost their 
reason ! Do these people come to our assemblies be- 
cause it is respectable to attend a place of worship ? Or 
is it that their coming helps to make them comfortable 
in their sins ? If they stopped away conscience would 
prick them ; but they come hither that they may flatter 
themselves with the notion that they are religious. Oh ! 
my hearers, your case is one that might make an angel 
weep ! How sad to have the sun of the gospel shining 
on your faces, and yet to have blind eyes that never see 
the light ! The music of heaven is lost upon you, for 
you have no ears to hear. You can catch the turn of a 
phrase, you can appreciate the poetry of an illustration, 
but the hidden meaning, the divine life, you do not per- 
ceive. You sit at the marriage-feast, but you eat not of 
the dainties ; the bells of heaven ring with joy over 
ransomed spirits, but you live unransomed, without 
God, and without Christ. Though we plead with you, 
and pray for you, and weep over you, you still remain 
as hardened, as careless, and as thoughtless as ever you 
were. May God have mercy on you, and break up your 
hard hearts, that his word may abide in you. 

We have not, however, completed the picture. The 
passage tells us that the fowls of the air devoured the 
seed. Is there here a wayside hearer ? Perhaps he did 
not mean to hear this sermon, and when he has heard it 
he will be asked by one of the wicked to come into com- 
pany. He will go with the tempter, and the good seed 
will be devoured by the fowls of the air. Plenty of evil 
ones are ready to take away the gospel from the heart. 
The devil himself, that prince of the air, is eager at any 
time to snatch away a good thought. And then the 
devil is not alone — he has legions of helpers. He can 



THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER. I09 

set a man's wife, children, friends, enemies, customers, 
or creditors, to eat up the good seed, and they will do 
it effectually. Oh, sorrow upon sorrow, that heavenly 
seed' should become devil's meat ; that God's corn 
should feed foul birds ! 

O my hearers, if you have heard the gospel from 
your youth, what wagon-loads of sermons have been 
wasted on you ! In your younger days, you heard old 
Dr. So-and-so, and the dear old man was wont to pray 
for his hearers till his eyes were red with tears ! Do 
you recollect those many Sundays when you said to 
yourself, " Let me go to my chamber and fall on my 
knees and pray " ? But you did not ; the fowls of the 
air ate up the seed, and you went on to sin as you had 
sinned before. Since then, by some strange impulse, 
you are very rarely absent from God's house ; but now 
the seed of the gospel falls into your soul as if it 
dropped upon an iron floor, and nothing comes of it. 
The law may be thundered at you ; you do not sneer at 
it, but it never affects you. Jesus Christ may be lifted 
up ; his dear wounds may be exhibited ; his streaming 
blood may flow before your very eyes, and you may be 
bidden with all earnestness to look to him and live ; 
but it is as if one should sow the sea-shore. What shall 
I do for you ? Shall I stand here and rain tears upon 
this hard highway ? Alas ! my tears will not break it 
up ; it is trodden too hard for that. Shall I bring the 
gospel plough ? Alas ! the ploughshare will not enter 
ground so solid. What shall we do ? O God, thou 
knowest how to melt the hardest heart with the precious 
blood of Jesus. Do it now, we beseech thee, and thus 
magnify thy grace, by causing the good seed to live, and 
to produce a heavenly harvest. 



HO TALKS TO FARMERS. 

II. I shall now turn to the second class of hearers: 
*' And some fell upon a rock ; and as soon as it was 
sprung up, it withered away, because it lacked moist- 
ure." You can easily picture to yourselves that piece 
of rock in the midst of the field thinly veiled with soil ; 
and of course the seed falls there as it does everywhere 
else. It springs up, it hastens to grow, it withers, it 
dies. None but those who love the souls of men can 
tell what hopes, what joys, and what bitter disappoint- 
ments these stony places have caused us. We have a 
class of hearers whose hearts are hard, and yet they are 
apparently the softest and most impressible of men. 
While other men see nothing in the sermon, these men 
weep. Whether you preach the terrors of the law or 
the love of Calvary, they are alike stirred in their souls, 
and the liveliest impressions are apparently produced. 
Such may be listening now. They have resolved, but 
/they have procrastinated. They are not the sturdy ene- 
mies of God who clothe themselves in steel, but they 
seem to bare their breasts, and lay them open to the 
minister. Rejoiced in heart, we shoot our arrows there, 
and they appear to penetrate ; but, alas, a secret armor 
blunts every dart, and no wound is felt. The parable 
speaks of this character thus : " Some fell upon stony 
places, where they had not much earth : and forthwith 
they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth." 
Or as another passage explains it: ''And these are 
they likewise which are sown on stony ground ; who, 
when they have heard the word, immediately receive it 
with gladness ; and have no root in themselves, and so 
endure but for a time : afterward, when affliction or 
persecution ariseth for the word's sake, immediately 
they are offended." Have we not thousands of hearers 



THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER. Ill 

who receive the word w r ith joy ? They have no deep 
convictions, but they leap into Christ on a sudden, and 
profess an instantaneous faith in him, and that faith has 
all the appearance of being genuine. When we look at 
it, the seed has really sprouted. There is a kind of life 
in it, there is apparently a green blade. We thank God 
that a sinner is brought back, a soul is born to God. 
But our joy is premature ; they sprang up on a sudden, 
and received the word with joy, because they had no 
depth of earth, and the self-same cause which hastened 
their reception of the seed also causes them, when the 
sun is risen with his fervent heat, to wither away. 
These men we see every day in the w r eek. They cumc 
to join the church ; they tell us a story of how they 
heard us preach on such-and-such an occasion, and, oh, 
the word was so blessed to them, they never felt so 
happy in their lives ! " Oh, sir, I thought I must leap 
from my seat when I heard about a precious Christ, and 
I believed on him there and then ; I am sure I did." 
We question them as to whether they were" ever con- 
vinced of sin. They think they were ; but one thing 
they know, they feel a great pleasure in religion. We 
put it to them. " Do you think you will hold on ?" 
They are confident that they shall. They hate the 
things they once loved, they are sure they do. Every- 
thing has become new to them. And all this is on a 
sudden. We enquire when the good work began. We 
find it began when it ended, that is to say, there was no 
previous work, no ploughing of the soil, but on a sud- 
den they sprang from death to life, as if a field should 
be covered with wheat by magic. Perhaps we receive 
them into the church ; but in a week or two they are 
not so regular as they used to be. We gently reprove 



112 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

them, and they explain that they meet with such oppo- 
sition in religion that they are obliged to yield a little. 
Another month and we lose them altogether. The rea- 
son is that they have been laughed at or exposed to a 
little opposition, and they have gone back. And what, 
think you, are the feelings of the minister ? He is like 
the husbandman, who sees his field all green and flour- 
ishing, but at night a frost nips every shoot, and his 
hoped-for gains are gone. The minister goes to his 
chamber, and casts himself on his face before God, and 
cries, " I have been deceived ; my converts are fickle, 
their religion has withered as the green herb." In the 
ancienj: story Orpheus is said to have had such skill 
upon the lyre, that he made the oaks and stones to 
dance around him. It is a poetical fiction, and yet hath 
it sometimes happened to the minister, that not only 
have the godly rejoiced, but men, like oaks and stones, 
have danced from their places. Alas ! they have been 
oaks and stones still. Hushed is the lyre. The oak 
returns to its rooting-place, and the stone casts itself 
heavily to the earth. The sinner, who, like Saul, was 
among the prophets, goes back to plan mischief against 
the Most High. 

If it is bad to be a wayside hearer, I cannot think it 
is much better to be like the rock. This second class of 
hearers certainly gives us more joy than the first. A 
certain company always comes round a new minister ; 
and I have often thought it is an act of God's kindness 
that he allows these people to gather at the first, while 
the minister is young, and has but few to stand by him; 
these persons are easily moved, and if the minister 
preaches earnestly they feel it, and they love him, and 
rally round him, much to his comfort. But time, that 



THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER. II3 

proves all things, proves them. They seemed to be 
made of true metal ; but when they are put into the 
fire to be tested, they are consumed in the furnace. 
Some of the shallow kind are here now. I have looked 
at you when I have been preaching, and I have often 
thought, " That man one of these days will come out 
from the world, I am sure he will." I have thanked 
God for him. Alas, he is the same as ever. Years and 
years have we sowed him in vain, and it is to be feared 
it will be so to the end, for he is without depth, and 
without the moisture of the Spirit. Shall it be so ? 
Must I stand over the mouth of your open sepulchre, 
and think, " Here lies a shoot which never became an 
ear, a man in whom grace struggled but never reigned, 
who gave some hopeful spasms of life and then subsided 
into eternal death ?" God save you ! Oh ! may the 
Spirit deal with you effectually, and may you, even 
you, yet bring forth fruit unto God, that Jesus may 
have a reward for his sufferings. 

III. I shall briefly treat of the third class, and may 
the Spirit of God assist me to deal faithfully with you. 
" And some fell among thorns ; and the thorns sprang 
up with it, and choked it." Now, this was good soil. 
The two first characters were bad ; the wayside was not 
the proper place, the rock was not a congenial situation 
for the growth of any plant ; but this is good soil, for 
it grows thorns. Wherever a thistle will spring up and 
flourish, there would wheat flourish too. This was fat, 
fertile soil ; it was no marvel therefore that the husband- 
man dealt largely there, and threw handful after hand- 
ful upon that corner of the field. See how happy he 
is when in a month or two he visits the spot. The seed 



114 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

has sprung up. True, there's a suspicious little plant 
down there of about the same size as the wheat. " Oh !" 
he thinks, " that's not much, the corn will outgrow that. 
When it is stronger it will choke these few thistles that 
have unfortunately mixed with it." Ay, Mr. Husband- 
man, you do not understand the force of evil, or you 
would not thus dream ! He comes again, and the seed 
has grown, there is even the corn in the ear ; but the 
thistles, the thorns, and the briers have become inter- 
twisted with one another, and the poor wheat can hard- 
ly get a ray of sunshine. It is so choked with thorns 
every way, that it looks quite yellow ; the plant is 
starved. Still it perseveres in growing, and it does seem 
as if it would bring forth a little fruit. Alas, it never 
comes to anything. With it the reaper never fills his arm. 
We have this class very largely among us. These 
hear the word and understand what they hear. They 
take the truth home ; they think it over ; they even go 
the length of making a profession of religion. The 
wheat seems to spring and ear ; it will soon come to 
perfection. Be in no hurry, these men and women have 
a great, deal to see after ; they have the cares of a large 
concern ; their establishment employs so many hundred 
hands ; do not be deceived as to their godliness — they 
have no time for it. They will tell you that they must 
live ; that they cannot neglect this world ; that they 
must anyhow look out for the present, and as for the 
future, they will render it all due attention by-and-by. 
They continue to attend gospel-preaching, and the poor 
little stunted blade of religion keeps on growing after a 
fashion. Meanwhile they have grown rich, they come 
to the place of worship in a carriage, they have all that 
heart can wish. Ah ! now the seed will grow, will it 



THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER. 115 

not ? No, no. They have no cares now ; the shop is 
given up, they live in the country ; they have not to 
ask, " Whe-e shall the money come from to meet the 
next bill? or " how shall they be able to provide for 
an increasing family." Now they have too much in- 
stead of too little, for they have riches, and they are too 
wealthy to be gracious. " But," says one, " they might 
spend their riches for God." Certainly they might, but 
they do not, for riches are deceitful. They have to 
entertain much company, and chime in with the world, 
and so Christ and his church are left in the lurch. 

Yes, but they begin to spend their riches, and they 
have surely got over that difficulty, for they give largely 
to the cause of Christ, and they are munificent in 
charity ; the little blade will grow, will it not ? No, for 
now behold the thorns of pleasure. Their liberality to 
others involves liberality to themselves ; their pleasures, 
amusements, and vanities choke the wheat of true re- 
ligion ; the good grains of gospel truth cannot grow be- 
cause they have to attend that musical party, that ball, 
and that soiree, and so they cannot think of the things 
of God. I know several specimens of this class. I knew 
one, high in court circles, who has confessed to me that 
he wished he were poor, for then he might enter the 
kingdom of heavexi. He has Said to me, " Ah ! sir, these 
politics, these politics, I wish I were rid of them, they 
are eating the life out of my heart. I cannot serve God 
as I would." I know of another, overloaded with riches, 
who has said to me, " Ah ! sir, it is an awful thing to be 
rich ; one cannot keep close to the Saviour with all this 
earth about him." 

Ah ! my dear readers, I will not ask for you that God 
may lay you on a bed of sickness, that he may strip you 



I l6 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

of all your wealth, and bring you to beggary ; but, oh, 
if he were to do it, and you were to save your souls, it 
would be the best bargain you could ever make. If 
those mighty ones who now complain that the thorns 
choke the seed could give up all their riches and pleas- 
ures, if they that fare sumptuously every day could take 
the place of Lazarus at the gate, it were a happy change 
for them if their souls might be saved. A man may be 
honorable and rich, and yet go to heaven ; but it will be 
hard work, for " It is easier for a camel to go through 
the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into 
the kingdom of heaven." God does make some rich 
men enter the kingdom of heaven, but hard is their 
struggle. Steady, young man, steady ! Hurry not to 
climb to wealth ! It is a place where many heads are 
turned. Do not ask God to make you popular ; they 
that have popularity are wearied by it. Cry with Agur, 
" Give me neither poverty nor riches." God give 
me to tread the golden mean, and may I ever have in 
my heart that good seed, which shall bring forth fruit a 
i....ndredfold to his own glory. 

IV. I now close with the last character, namely, 
the good ground. Of the good soil, as you will mark, 
we have but one in four. Will one in four of our hear- 
ers, with well-prepared heart, receive the Word ? 

The ground is described as "good"; not that it 
was good by nature, but it had been made good by 
grace. God had ploughed it ; he had stirred it up with 
the plough of conviction, and there it lay in ridge and 
furrow as it should lie. When the gospel was preached, 
the heart received it, for the man said, " That is just 
the blessing I want. Mercy is what a needy sinner re- 



THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER. I I 7 

quires." So that the preaching of the gospel was the 
thing to give comfort to this disturbed and ploughed 
soil. Down fell the seed to take good root. In some 
cases it produced fervency of love, largeness of heart, 
devotedness of purpose of a noble kind, like seed which 
produces a hundredfold. The man became a mighty 
servant for God, he spent himself and was spent. He 
took his place in the vanguard of Christ's army, stood in 
the hottest of the battle, and did deeds of daring which 
few could accomplish — the seed produced a hundred- 
fold. It fell into another heart of like character ; the 
man could not do the most, but still he did much. He 
gave himself to God, and in his business he had a word 
to say for his Lord ; in his daily walk he quietly 
adorned the doctrine of God his Saviour — he brought 
forth sixtyfold. Then it fell on another, whose abilities 
and talents w r ere but small ; he could not be a star, but 
he would be a glow-worm ; he could not do as the great- 
est, but he was content to do something, however hum- 
ble. The seed had brought forth in him tenfold, perhaps 
twentyfold. How many are there of this sort here ? Is 
there one who prays within himself, " God be merciful 
to me a sinner "? The seed has fallen in the right spot. 
Soul, thy prayer shall be heard. God never sets a man 
longing for mercy without intending to give it. Does 
another whisper, " Oh that I might be saved "? Believe 
on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou, even thou, shalt be 
oaved. Hast thou been the chief of sinners ? Trust 
Christ, and thy enormous sins shall vanish as the mill- 
stone sinks beneath the flood. . Is there no one here that 
will trust the Saviour? Can it be possible that the 
Spirit is entirely absent ? that he is not moving in one 
soul ? not begetting life in one spirit ? We will pray that 
he may now descend, that the word may not be in vain. 



THE PRINCIPAL WHEAT. 

" The principal wheat. " — Isaiah 2S : 25. 

The prophet mentions it as a matter of wisdom on 
the part of the husbandman, that he knows what is the 
principal thing to cultivate, and makes it his princi- 
pal care. The text, with the connection, runs thus : 
" Does not the husbandman cast in the principal 
wheat ?" He does not go to the granary and take out 
wheat, and cummin, and barley, 2nd rye, and fling these 
about right and left, but he estimates the value of each 
grain, and arranges them in his mind accordingly. He 
does not think that cummin and caraway, which he 
merely grows to give a flavor to his meal, are of half 
such importance as his bread-corn ; and, though rye 
and barley have their values, yet he does not reckon that 
even these are equal to what he calls " the principal 
wheat." He is a man of discretion, he arranges things; 
he places the most important crop in the front rank, 
and spends upon it the most care. 

Here let us learn a lesson. Do keep things distinct 
in your minds — not huddled and muddled by a careless 
thoughtlessness. Do not live a confused life, without 
care and discretion, running all things into one ; but 
sort things out, and divide and distinguish between the 
precious and the vile. See what this is worth, and what 
the other is v/orth, and set your matters in rank and 



THE PRINCIPAL WHEAT. TI9 

order, making some of them principal, and others of 
them inferior. I suggest to you young people especial- 
ly that, in starting life, you say to yourselves, " What 
shall we live for i There is a principal thing for which 
we ought to live, what shall it be ?" Have you turned 
over that question, or have you gone at it hit or miss ? 
What are you living for ? What is your principal aim ? 
Is it going to be that of the old gentleman in Horace 
who said to his boy, " Get money : get it honestly, if 
you can ; but, by all means, get money." Will you be 
a money-spinner? Shall coin be your principal corn? 
Or will you choose a life of pleasure — " a short life and 
a merry one," as so many fools have said to their grbat 
sorrow ? Is it in dissipation that your life is to be 
spent ? Are thistles to be your principal crop ? Be- 
cause there is a pleasure in looking at a Scotch thistle, 
do you intend to grow acres of pleasurable vice ? And 
will you make your bed upon them when you come to 
die ? Search and see what is worthy of being the prin- 
cipal object in life ; and, when you have found it out, 
then beseech the Holy Spirit to help you to choose that 
one thing, and to give all your powers and faculties to 
the cultivation of it. The farmer, who finds that wheat 
ought to be his principal crop, makes it so, and lays 
himself out with that end in view ; learn from this to 
have a main. object, and to give your whole mind to it. 

This farmer was wise, because he counted that to be 
principal which was the most needful. His family could do 
without cummin, which was but a flavoring. Perhaps 
the mistress might complain, or the cook might grum- 
ble, but that did not signify so much as it would do if 
the children cried for bread. They certainly must have 
wheat, for bread is the staff of life. It is bread that 



120 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

strengtheneth man's heart, and therefore the farmer 
must grow wheat if he does not grow anything else. 
That which is necessary he regarded as the principal 
thing. Is not this common sense ? If we were wisely 
to sit down and estimate, should we not say, "To be 
forgiven my sins, to be right with God, to be holy, to 
be fit to live eternally in heaven, is the greatest, the 
most needful thing for me, and therefore I will make it 
the principal object of my pursuit"? A creature cannot 
be satisfied unless he is answering the end for which he 
is created ; and the end of every intelligent creature is 
first, to glorify God, and next, to enjoy God. What a 
bliss it must be to enjoy God himself for ever and ever! 
Other things may be desirable, but this thing is need- 
ful. A competence of income, a measure of esteem 
among men, a degree of health — all these are the flavor- 
ing of life, but to be saved in the Lord with an everlast- 
ing salvation is life itself. Jesus Christ is the bread hy 
which our soul's best life is sustained. Oh, that we 
were all wise enough to feel that to be one with Christ 
is the one thing needful ; that to be at peace with God 
is the principal thing ; that to be brought into harmony 
with the Most High is the true music of our being. 
Other herbs may take their place in due order, but 
grace is the principal wheat, and we must cultivate it. 

This farmer was wise, because he made that to be the 
principal thing which was the most fit to be so. Of course, 
barley is useful as food, for nations have lived on barley 
bread, and lived healthily too ; and rye has been the 
nutriment of millions ; neither have they starved on 
oats and other grains. Still, give me a piece of wheat- 
en bread, for it is the best staff for life's journey. This 
farmer knew that wheat was the most fitting food for 



THE PRINCIPAL WHEAT. 121 

man, and so he did not put the inferior grain, which 
might act as a substitute., into the prominent place ; but 
he gave his wheat the preference. He did not say, 
" the principal barley," or " the principal rye," much 
less " the principal cummin," or " the principal 
fitches," but " the principal wheat." 

And what is there, brethren, that is so fit for the 
heart, the mind, the soul of man, as to know God and 
his Christ? Other mental foods, such as the fruits of 
knowledge, and the dainties of science, excellent 
though they may be — are inferior nutriment and unsuit- 
able to build up the inner manhood. In my God and 
my Saviour, I find my heaven and my all. My soul sits 
down to a crumb of truth about Jesus, and finds great 
satisfaction in living upon it. The more we can know 
God, and enjoy God, and become like to God, and the 
more Christ is our daily bread, the more do we perceive 
the fitness of all this to our new-born natures. O be- 
loved, make that to be your principal object which is 
the fittest pursuit of an immortal mind. 

" Religion is the chief concern 
Of mortals here below ; 
May I its great importance learn, 
Its sovereign virtue know ! 

" More needful this than glittering wealth, 
Or aught the world bestows : 
Not reputation, food, or health, 
Can give us such repose." 

Moreover, this farmer was wise, because he made 
that the principal thing which ivas the most profitable. Under 
certain circumstances, in our own country, wheat is not 
the most profitable thing which a man can grow ; but, 
ordinarily, it is the best crop that the earth yields, and 



122 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

therefore the text speaks of " the principal wheat." 
Our grandfathers used to rely upon the wheat stack to 
pay their rent. They looked to their corn as the arm 
of their strength ; and though it is not so now, it always 
was so of old, and perhaps it may yet be so again. 
Anyhow, the figure holds good with regard to true re- 
ligion. That is the most profitable thing. I am told 
that rich men find it very hard to get hold of anything 
which yields five per cent, nowadays ; but this blessed 
fear of the Lord is an extraordinarily profitable invest- 
ment, for it does not yield a hundred per cent, or a 
thousand per cent, but a man begins with nothing and 
all things become his by faith. "Being freely discharged 
of our sins, we are by overflowing grace greatly en- 
riched, so that we number among our possessions heaven 
itself, Christ himself, God himself. All things are ours. 
Oh, what a blessed crop to sow ! What a harvest comes 
of it ! Godliness is profitable for the life that now is, 
and for that which is to come. Godliness is a blessing 
to a man's body, it keeps him from drunkenness and 
vice ; and it is a blessing to his soul, it makes him sweet 
and pure. It is a blessing to him every way. If I had 
to die like a dog, I would like to live like a Christian. 
If there were no hereafter, yet still, for comfort and for 
joy, give me the life of one who strives to live like 
Christ. There is a practical everyday truth in the 
verse — 

' ' 'Tis religion that can give 
Sweetest pleasures while we live ; 
'Tis religion must supply 
Solid comfort when we die. " 

Only that religion must not be of the common sort ; it 
must have for its root a heartv faith in lesus Christ. 



THE PRINCIPAL WHEAT. 1 23 

See ye to it. Our religion must be either everything or 
nothing, either first or nowhere. Make it " the principal 
wheat," and it will richly repay you. 

II. Secondly, the husbandman is a lesson to us 
because he gives this principal thing the principal 
place. I find that the Hebrew is rendered by some 
eminent scholars, " He puts the wheat into the principal 
place." That little handful of cummin for the wife to 
flavor the cakes with he grows in a corner ; and the 
various herbs he places in their proper borders. The 
barley he sets in its plot, and the rye in its acre ; but 
if there is a good bit of rich soil — the best he has — he 
appropriates it to the principal wheat. He gives his 
choicest fields to that which is to be the main means of 
his living. 

Now, here is a lesson for you and for me. Let us 
give to true godliness our principal powers and abili- 
ties. Let us give to the things of God our best and 
most intejue thought. I pray you, do not take religion at 
second hand from what I tell you, or from what some- 
body else tells you ; but think it over. Read, mark, 
learn, and inwardly digest the w T ord of God. The 
thoughtful Christian is the growing Christian. Re- 
member, the service of God deserves our first considera- 
tion and endeavor. We are poor things at our prime, 
but we ought to give the Lord nothing short of our 
best. God would not have us serve him heedlessly, but 
he would have us use all the brain and intellect and 
mind that we have in studying and practising his word. 
"Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace." 
" Meditate upon these things. Give thyself wholly to 
them." If your mind is more clear and active at one 



124 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

time than at another, then sow the principal wheat. If 
you feel more fresh and more inclined to think at one 
time of the day than at another, let your mind then go 
towards the best things. 

Be sure, also, to yield to this subject your most earnest 
rove. The best field in the little estate of manhood is 
not the head, but the heart ; sow the principal wheat 
there. Oh, to have true religion in the heart ; to love 
what we know — intensely to love it ; to hold it fast as 
with the grip of life and death — never to let it go ! The 
Lord says, " My son, give me thy heart," and he will 
not be contented with anything less than our heart. 
Oh, when your zeal is most burning, and your love is 
most fervent, let the warmth and the fervency all go 
towards the Lord your God, and to the service of him 
who has redeemed you with his precious blood. Let 
the principal wheat have the principal part of your 
nature. Towards God and his Christ also turn your 
most fervent desires. When you enlarge your desire, de- 
sire Christ ; when you become ambitious let your am- 
bition be all for God. Let your hunger and your thirst 
be after righteousness. Let your aspirations and your 
longings be all towards holiness, and the things that 
shall make you like to Christ. Give to this principal 
wheat your principal desires. 

Then let the Lord have the attentive respect of your life. 
Let the principal wheat be sown in every action. If we 
are truly Christians we must be as much Christians out- 
side the church as in it. We shall try to make our eat- 
ing and our drinking, and everything we do, tend to 
the glory of God. Draw no line between the secular 
and the religious part of your conduct, but let the secu- 
lar be made religious by a devout desire to glorify God 



THE PRINCIPAL WHEAT. 1 25 

in the one as much as in the other. Let us worship God 
in the commonest duties of life, even as they do who 
stand before his throne. So it ought to be. Let us sow 
the principal wheat in all the fields of our conversation, 
in business, in the famiiy, among our friends, and with 
our children. May we each one feel, " For me to live is 
Christ. I cannot live without Christ, or for anything 
but Christ." Let your whole nature yield itself to 
Jesus, and to,none else. 

We should give to this principal wheat our most 
ear?iest labors. We should spend ourselves for the spread 
of the gospel. A Christian man ought to lay himself 
out to serve Jesus. I hate to see a professing man zeal- 
ous in politics and lukewarm in devotion ; all on fire at 
a parish vestry, and chill as winter when he comes to a 
prayer-meeting. Some fly like eagles when they are 
serving the world, but they have a broken wing in the 
service of God. This should not be. If anything could 
rouse us up, and make the lion within us roar in his 
strength, it should be when we confront the foes of 
Jesus or fight in his cause. Our Lord's service is the 
principal wheat, let us labor most in connection with it. 

This, I think, should also taken possession of us so 
as to lead to our greatest sacrifices. The love of Christ 
ought to be so strong as to swallow up self, and make 
sacrifice our daily joy. For Christ's name's sake we 
should be willing to endure poverty, reproach, slander, 
exile, death. Nothing should be dear to a Christian in 
comparison with Christ. Now, I will put it to you 
whether it is so or no. Is the love of Jesus the principal 
wmeat with us ? Are we giving our religion the chief 
place or not ? I am afraid some people treat religion 
as certain gentlemen treat an off-hand farm ; they put 



126 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

a bailiff into it, and only give an eye to it now and then. 
Their minister is the bailiff, and they expect him to see 
to it for them. These off-hand farms are losing con- 
cerns. Look at these half-and-half brethren. They 
have religion ? Certainly. But they are like the man 
of whom the child spoke at the Sunday-school. " Is 
your father a Christian ?" said the teacher. " Yes," said 
the child, " but he has not worked much at it lately." 
I could point out several of this sort, who are sowing 
their wheat very sparingly, and choosing the most bar- 
ren patch to sow it in. They profess to be Christians, 
but religion is a tenth-rate article on their farm. Some 
have a large acreage for the world, and a poor little plot 
for Christ. They are growers of worldly pleasure and 
self-indulgence, and they sow a little religion by the 
roadside'for appearance sake. This will not do. God 
will not thus be mocked. If we despise him and his 
truth we shall be lightly esteemed. O come let us give 
our principal time, talent, thought, effort to that which 
is the chief concern of immortal spirits. May we imi- 
tate the husbandman who gives the principal wheat the 
principal place in his farm. 

III. Let us learn a third lesson. The husbandman 

SELECTS THE PRINCIPAL SEED-CORN WHEN HE IS SOWING HIS 

wheat. When a farmer is setting aside wheat for sow- 
ing, he does not choose the tail corn and the worst of 
his produce, but if he is a sensible man he likes t3 sow 
the best wheat in the world. Many farmers search the 
country round for a good sample of wheat for sowing, 
for they do not expect to get a good harvest out of bad 
seed. The husbandman is taught of God to put into 
the ground " the principal wheat." Let me learn that 



THE PRINCIPAL WHEAT. 1 27 

if I am going to sow to the Lord and to be a Christian, 
I should sow the best kind of Christianity. 

I should try to do this, first, by believing the weightiest 
doctrines. I would believe not this " ism," nor that, but 
the unadulterated truth which Jesus taught ; for a holy 
character will only grow by the Spirit of God out of 
true doctrine. Falsehood breeds sin : truth begets and 
fosters holiness. You and I therefore ought to select 
our seed carefully, and cast out all error. If we are 
wise we shall think most of the most important truths, 
for I have known people attach the greatest importance 
to the smallest things. They fight over the fitches, and 
leave the wheat to the crows. As for me, those who 
wi]l may dispute over vials and trumpets, I shall mainly 
preach the doctrine of the precious blood and the glori- 
ous truths of substitution and atonement. These doc- 
trines are the principal wheat, and therefore these shall 
have my choice. 

Next to that, we ought*to sow the noblest examples. 
Many men are dwarfed because they choose a bad model 
to start with. They imitate dear old Mr. So-and-so till 
they grow wonderfully like him with the best of him 
left out. A minister happens to be of a gloomy turn of 
mind, and he preaches the deep experience of the chil- 
dren of God, and in consequence a band of good people 
think it their duty to be melancholy. Why need they 
fall into a ditch because their leader has splashed him- 
self ? We should never copy any man's infirmities. To 
be like Paul there is no need to have weak eyes ; to be 
like Thomas there is no necessity to doubt. If you 
copy any good man, there is a point at which you 
ought to stop short. If I must have a human model, I 
would prefer one of the bravest of the saints of God ; 



128 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

bat oh how much better to follow that perfect pattern 
which you have in Christ Jesus ! 

We should sow the best wheat by seeing that we 
have the purest spirit. Alas ! how soon do spirits become 
soiled by self or pride, or despondency or sloth, or 
some earth!)'' taint. But what a grand thing it is to live 
in the spirit of Christ ! May we be humble, lowly, bold, 
self-sacrificing, pure, chaste, and holy. 

And, then, there is one more mode of sowing select- 
ed seed. We should endeavor to live in the closest com- 
munion with God. A dear brother prayed just now that 
we might have as much grace as we were capable of re- 
ceiving, and that God would bring us into such a state 
that we might not hinder him in anything which he 
willed to do by us. This is a good prayer. It should 
be our desire to rise to the highest form of spiritual life. 
If you sow this principal wheat, get the best sort of it. 
There is a spirit and a spirit ; and there are doctrines 
and doctrines ; the best is the best for you. O young 
men, if you mean to have piety, go in for it thoroughly. 
Do not sneak through the world as if you were ashamed 
of your Lord. If you are Christ's, show your colors. 
Rally to his banner, gather to his trumpet call, and then 
stand up, stand up for Jesus. If there is any manhood 
in you, this great cause calls for it all ; exhibit it, and 
may the Spirit of God help you so to do. 

IV. Fourthly, the husbandman grows the princi- 
pal wheat with the principal care. Some critics say 
that the proper translation is that the husbandman 
plants his wheat in rows. It is said that the large crops 
in Palestine in olden time were due to the fact that they 
planted the wheat. They set it in lines, so that it was 



THE PRINCIPAL WHEAT. ' 120 

not checked or suffocated by its being too thick in one 
place, neither was there any fear of its being too thin in 
another. The wheat was planted, and then streams of 
water were turned by the foot to each particular plant. 
No wonder, therefore, that the land brought forth 
abundantly. 

We should give our principal care to the principal 
thing. Our godliness should be carried out with dis- 
cretion and care. Brethren, are we careful enough as 
to our religious w T alk ? Have you ever searched to the 
bottom of your profession ? Why do you happen to be 
members of a certain church ? Your mother was so. 
Well, there is some good in that reason, but not enough 
to justify you in the sight of God. I pray you judge 
your standing. If any Christian minister is afraid to 
urge you to this duty, I stand in doubt of him. I am not 
at all afraid. I beg you to examine all that I teach you, 
for I would not like to be responsible for another man's 
creed. Like the Bereans, search and see whether these 
things be according to Scripture or not. One of the 
greatest blessings that could come upon the church 
would be a searching spirit which would refer every- 
thing to the Holy Scriptures. If they speak not accord- 
ing to this Word it is because there is no light in them. 
Do your service to God as carefully as the eastern 
farmer planted his wheat, when he set it in rows with 
great orderliness and exactness. You serve a precise 
God, therefore serve him precisely. He is a jealous 
God, therefore be jealous of the least taint of error or 
will-worship. 

Take care, also, that you water every part of your 
religion, as the farmer watered each plant. Pray for 
grace from on high that you may never be parched and 



130 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

dried up, Perform to your faith, to your hope, to your 
love, and to all the plants that are in your soul every 
other service which the husbandman renders to his 
wheat. Give grace your principal care, for it de- 
serves it. 

V. With this I close. Do this, because from this 
you may expect your principal crop. If religion be 
the principal thing, you may look to religion for your 
principal reward. The harvest will come to you in 
various ways. You will make the greatest success in 
this life if you wholly live to the glory of God. Success 
or failure must much depend upon the fitness of our 
object. It is of no use my attempting to sing, for I shall 
never be able to conduct a choir. I could not succeed 
in that, but if I pi-each, I may succeed, for that is my 
work. Now you, Christian man, if you try to live to 
the world you will not prosper, for you are not fitted 
for it. Grace has spoiled you for sin. If you live to 
God with all your heart you will succeed in it, for God 
has made you on purpose for it. As he made the fish 
for the water, and the birds for the air, so he made the 
believer for holiness, and for the service of God ; and 
you will be out of your element, a fish out of water, or 
a bird in the stream, if you leave the service of God. 
The Eastern farmer's prosperity hinges on his wheat, 
and yours upon your devotion to God. It is to Godli- 
ness that you must look for your joy. Is there any bliss 
like the bliss of knowing that you are in Christ, and are 
the beloved of the Lord ? It is to your religion that 
you must look for comfort on a sick and dying bed, and 
you may be there very soon. 

In the world to come what a crop, what a harvest 



THE PRINCIPAL WHEAT. 131 

will come of serving the Lord ! What will come out of 
all else ? What but mere smoke ? A man has made a 
million of money, and he is dead. What has he got by 
his wealth ? A man's fame rings throughout the earth 
as a great and successful warrior, and he is dead. What 
has he as the result of all his honors ? To live to the 
world is like playing with boys in the street for half- 
pence, or with babes for bits of platter and oyster shells. 
Life for God is real and substantial, but all else is 
waste. Let us think so, and gird up our loins to serve 
the Lord. May the divine Spirit help us to sow " the 
principal wheat," and to live in joyful expectation of 
reaping a happy harvest according to the promise, 
" They that sow in tears shall reap in joy." 



SPRING IN THE HEART. 

" Thou waterest the ridges thereof abundantly : thou settlest the furrows 
thereof : thou makest it soft with showers : thou blessest the springing there- 
of. " — Psalm 65 : 10. 

Though other seasons excel in fulness, spring must 
always bear the palm for freshness and beauty. We 
thank God when the harvest hours draw near, and the 
golden grain invites the sickle, but we ought equally to 
thank him for the rougher days of spring, for these pre- 
pare the harvest. April showers are mothers of the 
sweet May flowers, and the wet and cold of winter are 
the parents of the splendor of summer. God blesses 
the springing thereof, or else it could not be said, 
" Thou crownest the year with thy goodness." There 
is as much necessity for divine benediction in spring as 
for heavenly bounty in summer ; and, therefore, we 
should praise God all the year round. 

Spiritual spring is a very blessed season in a church. 
Then we see youthful piety developed, and on every hand 
we hear the joyful cry of those who say, " We have 
found the Lord." Our sons are springing up as the 
grass and as willows by the water-courses. We hold up 
our hands in glad astonishment and cry, " Who are 
these that fly as a cloud and as doves to their win- 
dows ?" In the revival days of a Church, when God is 
blessing her with many conversions, she has great cause 



SPRING IN THE HEART. 1 33 

to rejoice in God and to sing, " Thou blessest the 
springing thereof." 

I intend to take the text in reference to individual 
cases. There is a time of springing of grace, when it is 
just in its bud, just breaking through the dull cold earth 
of unregenerate nature. I desire to talk a little about 
that, and concerning the blessing which the Lord grants 
to the green blade of new-born godliness, to those who 
are beginning to hope in the Lord. 

I. First, I shall have a little to say about the 

WORK PREVIOUS TO THE SPRINGING THEREOF. 

It appears from the text that there is work for God 
alone to do before the springing comes, and we know 
that there is work for God to do through us as well. 

There is work for its to do. Before there can be a 
springing up in the soul of any, there must be plough- 
ing, harrowing, and sowing. There must be a plough- 
ing, and we do not expect that as soon as ever we plough 
we shall reap the sheaves. Blessed be God, in many 
cases, the reaper overtakes the ploughman, but we must 
not always expect it. In some hearts God is long in 
preparing the soul by conviction : the law with its ten 
black horses drags the ploughshare of conviction up and 
down the soul till there is no one part of it left unfur- 
rowed. Conviction goes deeper than any plough to the 
very core and centre of the spirit, till the spirit is 
wounded. The ploughers make deep furrows indeed 
when God puts his hand to the work : the soil of the 
heart is broken in pieces in the presence of the Most 
High. 

Then comes the sowing. Before there can be a 
springing up it is certain that there must be something 



134 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

put into the ground, so that after the preacher has used 
the plough of the law, he applies to his Master for the 
seed-basket of the gospel. Gospel promises, gospel doc- 
trines, especially a clear exposition of free grace and the 
atonement, these are the handfuls of corn which we 
scatter broadcast. Some of the grain falls on the high- 
way, and is lost ; but other handfuls fall where the 
plough has been, and there abide. 

Then comes the harrowing work. We do not expect 
to sow seed and then leave it : the gospel has to be 
prayed over. The prayer of the preacher and the 
prayer of the Church make up God's harrow to rake in 
the seed after it is scattered, and so it is covered up 
within the clods of the soul, and is hidden in the heart 
of the hearer. 

Now there is a reason why I dwell upon this, name- 
ly, that I may exhort my dear brethren who have not 
seen success, not to give up the work, but to hope that 
they have been doing the ploughing, and sowing, and 
harrowing work, and that the harvest is to come. I 
mention this for yet another reason, and that is, by way 
of warning to those who expect to have a harvest with- 
out this preparatory work. I do not believe that much 
good will come from attempts at sudden revivals made 
without previous prayerful labor." A revival to be per- 
manent must be a matter of growth, and the result of 
much holy effort, longing, pleading, and watching. 
The servant of God is to preach the gospel whether men 
are prepared for it or not ; but in order to large success, 
depend upon it there is a preparedness necessary among 
the hearers. Upon some hearts w^arm earnest preach- 
ing drops like an unusual thing which startles but does 
not convince ; while in other congregations, where good 



SPRING IN THE HEART. 1 35 

gospel preaching has long been the rule, and much 
prayer has been offered, the words fall into the hearers' 
souls and bring forth speedy fruit. We must not expect 
to have results without work. There is no hope of a 
church having an extensive revival in its midst unless 
there is continued and importunate waiting upon God, 
together with earnest laboring, intense anxiety, and 
hopeful expectation. 

But there is also a work to be done which is beyond our 
power. After ploughing, sowing, and harrowing, there 
must come the shower from heaven. " Thou visitest 
the earth and waterest it," says the Psalmist. In vain 
are all our efforts unless God shall bless us with the 
rain of his Holy Spirit's influence. O Holy Spirit ! thou, 
and thou alone, workest wonders in the human heart, 
and thou comest from the Father and the Son to do the 
Father's purposes, and to glorify the Son. 

Three effects are spoken of. First, we are told he 
waters the ridges. As the ridges of the field become well 
saturated through and through with the abundant rain, 
so God sends his Holy Spirit till the whole heart of man 
is moved and influenced by his divine operations. The 
understanding is enlightened, the conscience is quick- 
ened, the will is controlled, the affections are inflamed ; 
all these powers, which I may call the ridges of the 
heart, come under the divine working. It is ours to 
deal with men as men, and bring to bear upon them 
gospel truth, and to set before them motives that are 
suitable to move rational creatures ; but, after all, it is 
the rain from on high which alone can water the ridges: 
there is no hope of the heart being savingly affected ex- 
cept by divine operations. 

Next, it is added, " Thou settlest the furrows," by 



136 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

which some think it is meant that the furrows are 
drenched with water. Others think there is an allusion 
here to the beating down of the earth by heavy rain till 
the ridges become flat, and by the soaking of the water 
are settled into a more compact mass. Certain it is that 
the influences of God's Spirit have a humbling and 
settling effect upon a man. He was unsettled once like 
the earth that is dry and crumbly, and blown about and 
carried away with every wind of doctrine ; but as the 
earth when soaked with wet is compacted and knit to- 
gether, so the heart becomes solid and serious under the 
power of the Spirit. As the high parts of the ridge are 
beaten down into the furrows, so the lofty ideas, the 
grand schemes, and carnal boastings of the heart begin 
to level down, when the Holy Spirit comes to work up- 
on the soul. Genuine humility is a very gracious fruit 
of the Spirit. To be broken in heart is the best means 
of preparing the soul for Jesus. " A broken and a con- 
trite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise." Brethren, 
always be thankful when you see high thoughts of man 
brought down ; this settling the furrows is a very gra- 
cious preparatory work of grace. 

Yet again, it is added, " Thou makes t it soft with 
showers." Man's heart is naturally hardened against 
the gospel ; like the Eastern soil, it is hard as iron if 
there be no gracious rain. How sweetly and effectively 
does the Spirit of God soften the man through and 
through ! He is no longer towards the Word what he 
used to be : he feels everything, whereas once he felt 
nothing. The rock flows with water ; the heart is dis- 
solved in tenderness, the eyes are melted into tears. 

All this is God's work. I have said already that 
God works through us, but still it is God's immediate 



SPRING IN THE HEART. 137 

work to send down the rain of his grace from on high. 
Perhaps he is at work upon some of you, though as yet 
there is no springing up of spiritual life in your souls. 
Though your condition is still a sad one, we will hope 
for you that ere long there shall be seen the living seed 
of grace sending up its tender green shoot above the 
soil, and may the Lord bless the springing thereof. 

II. In the second place, let us deliver a brief de- 
scription OF THE SPRINGING THEREOF. 

After the operations of the Holy Spirit have been 
quietly going on for a certain season as pleaseth the 
great Master and Husbandman, then there are signs of 
grace. Remember the apostle's words, " First the blade, 
then the ear, then the full corn in the ear." Some of 
our friends are greatly disturbed because they cannot 
seethe full corn' in the ear in themselves. They sup- 
pose that, if they were the subjects of a divine work, 
they would be precisely like certain advanced Christians 
with whom it is their privilege to commune, or of whom 
they may have read in biographies. Beloved, this is a 
very great mistake. When first grace enters the heart, 
it is not a great tree covering with its shadow whole 
acres, but it is the least of all seeds, like a grain of 
mustard seed. When it first rises upon the soul, it is 
not the sun shining at high noon, but it is the first dim 
ray of dawn. Are you so simple as to expect the har- 
vest before you have passed through the springing- 
time ? I shall hope that by a very brief description of 
the earliest stage of Christian experience you may be 
led to say, " I have gone as far as that," and then I 
hope you may be able to take the comfort of the text to 
yourselves : " Thou blessest the springing thereof." 



138 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

What then is the springing up of piety in the heart? 
We think it is first seen in sincerely earnest desires after 
salvation. The man is not saved, in his own apprehen- 
sion, but he longs to be. That which was once a mat- 
ter of indifference is now a subject of intense concern. 
Once he despised Christians, and thought them need- 
lessly earnest ; he thought religion a mere trifle, and he 
looked upon the things of time and sense as the only 
substantial matters ; but now how changed he is ! He 
envies the meanest Christian, and would change places 
with the poorest believer if he might but be able to read 
his title clear to mansions in the skies. Now worldly 
things have lost dominion over him, and spiritual things 
are uppermost. Once with the unthinking many, he 
cried, " Who will show us any good ?" but now he 
cries, " Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance 
upon me." Once it was the corn and the wine to which 
he looked for comfort, but now he looks to God alone. 
His rock of refuge must be God, for he finds no com- 
fort elsewhere. His holy desires, which he had years 
ago, were like smoke from the chimney, soon blown 
away; but now his longings are permanent, though not 
always operative to the same degree. At times these 
desires amount to a hungering and a thirsting after 
righteousness, and yet he is not satisfied with these de- 
sires, but wishes for a still more anxious longing after 
heavenly things. These desires are among the first 
springings of divine life in the soul. 

" The springing thereof " shows itself next in 
prayer. It is prayer now. Once it was the mocking of 
God with holy sounds unattended by the heart; but 
now, though the prayer is such that he would not like a 
human ear to hear him, yet God approves it, for it is 



SPRING IN THE HEART. 1 39 

the talking of a spirit to a Spirit, and not the muttering 
of lips to an unknown God. His prayers, perhaps, are 
not very long : they do not amount to more than this, 
11 Oh !" " Ah !" " Would to God !" " Lord, have 
mercy upon me, a sinner !" and such-like short ejacula- 
tions; but, then, they are prayers. " Behold he pray- 
eth," does not refer to a long prayer ; it is quite as 
sure a proof of spiritual life within, if it only refers to a 
sigh or to a tear. These " groanings that cannot be 
uttered," are among " the springings thereof." 

There will also be manifest a hearty love for the means 
of grace, and the house of God. The Bible, long un- 
read, which was thought to be of little more use than 
an old almanac, is now treated with great considera- 
tion ; and though the reader finds little in it that com- 
forts him just now, and much that alarms him, yet he 
feels that it is the book for him, and he turns to its 
pages with hope. When he goes up to God's house, he 
listens eagerly, hoping that there may be a message for 
him. Before, he attended worship as a sort of pious 
necessity incumbent upon all respectable people ; but 
now he goes up to God's house that he may find the 
Saviour. Once there was no more religion in him than 
in the door which turns upon its hinges ; but now he 
enters the house praying, " Lord, meet with my soul," 
and if he gets no blessing, he goes away sighing, " O 
that I knew where I might find him, that I might come 
even to his seat." This is one of the blessed signs of 
" the springing thereof." 

Yet more cheering is another, namely, that the soul 
in this state has faith in Jesus Christ, at least in some 
degree. It is not a faith which brings great joy and 
peace, but still it is a faith which keeps the heart from 



140 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

despair, and prevents its sinking under a sense of sin. 
I have known the time when I do not believe any man 
living could see faith in- me, and when I could scarcely 
perceive any in myself, and yet I was bold to say, with 
Peter, " Lord, thou knowest all things, thou knowest 
that I love thee." What man cannot see, Christ can 
see. Many people have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, 
but they are so much engaged in looking at it that they 
do not see it. If they would look to Christ and not to 
their own faith, they would not only see Christ but see 
their own faith too ; but they measure their faith, and 
it seems so little when they contrast it with the faith of 
full-grown Christians, that they fear it is not faith at all. 
Oh, little one, if thou hast faith enough to receive 
Christ, remember the promise, " To as many as received 
him, to them gave he power to become the sons of 
God." Poor, simple, weak hearted, and troubled one, 
look to Jesus and answer, Can such a Saviour suffer in 
vain ? Can such an atonement be offered in vain ? 
Canst thou trust him, and yet be cast away ? It cannot 
be. It never was in the Saviour's heart to shake off one 
that did cling to his arm. However feeble the faith, he 
blesses " the springing thereof." The difficulty raises 
partly from misapprehension and partly from want of 
confidence in God. I say misapprehension : now if like 
some Londoners you had never seen corn when it is 
green, you would cry out, " What ! Do you say that 
yonder green stuff is wheat ?" " Yes," the farmer says, 
" that is wheat." You look at it again and you reply, 
" Why, man alive, that is nothing but grass. You do 
not mean to tell me that this grassy stuff will ever pro- 
duce a loaf of bread such as I see in the baker's window; 
Icannot conceive it." No, you could not conceive it, 



SPRING IN THE HEART. Izj.1 

but when you get accustomed to it, it is not at all won- 
derful to see the wheat go through certain stages ; first 
the blade, then the ear, and afterwards the full corn in 
the ear. Some of you have never seen growing grace, 
and do not know anything about it. When you are 
newly converted you meet with Christians who are like 
ripe golden ears, and you say, " I am not like them." 
True, you are no more like them than that grassy stuff 
in the furrows is like full-grown wheat ; but you will 
grow like them one of these days. You must expect to 
go through the blade period before you get to the ear 
period, and in the ear period you will have doubts 
whether you will ever come to the full corn in the ear ; 
but you will arrive at perfection in due time. Thank 
God that you are in Christ at all. Whether I have much 
faith or little faith, whether I can do much for Christ 
or little for Christ, is not the first question ; I am saved, 
not on account of what I am, but on account of what 
Jesus Christ is ; and if I am trusting to him, however 
little in Israel I may be, I am as safe as the brightest of 
the saints. 

I have said, however, that mixed with misapprehen- 
sion there is a great deal of unbelief. I cannot put it 
all down to an ignorance that may be forgiven : for 
there is sinful unbelief too. O sinner, why do you not 
trust Jesus Christ ? Poor, quickened, awakened con- 
science, God gives you his word that he who trusts in 
Christ is not condemned, and yet you are afraid that 
you are condemned ! This is to give God the lie ! Be 
ashamed and confounded that you should ever have 
been guilty of doubting the veracity of God. All your 
other sins do not grieve Christ so much as the sin of 
thinking that he is unwilling to forgive you, or the sin 



I42 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

of suspecting that if you trust him he will cast you 
away. Do not slander his gracious character. Do not 
cast a slur upon the generosity of his tender heart. He 
saith, " Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast 
out." Come in the faith of his promise, and he will 
receive you just now. 

I have thus given some description of " the spring- 
ing thereof.." 

III. Thirdly, according to the text, there is one 
who sees this springing. Thou, Lord — thou blessest 
the springing thereof. 

I wish that some of us had quicker eyes to see the 
beginning of grace in the souls of men ; for want of 
this we let slip many opportunities of helping the weak- 
lings. If a woman had the charge of a number of chil- 
dren that were not her own, I do not suppose she would 
notice all the incipient stages of disease ; but when a 
mother nurses her own dear children, as soon as ever 
upon the cheek or in the eye there is a token of ap- 
proaching sickness, she perceives it at once. I wish we 
had just as quick an eye, because just as tender a heart, 
towards precious souls. I do not doubt that many 
young people are weeks and even months in distress, 
who need not be, if you who know the Lord were a 
little more watchful to help them in the time of their 
sorrow. Shepherds are up all night at lambing time to 
catch up the lambs as soon as they are born, and take 
them in and nurse them ; and we, who ought to be 
shepherds for God, should be looking out for all the 
lambs, especially at seasons when there are many born 
into God's great fold, for tender nursing is wanted in 
the first stages of the new life. God, however, when his 



Spring in the heart. 143 

servants do not see " the springing thereof," sees 
it all. 

Now, you silent, retired spirits, who dare not speak 
to father or mother, or brother or sister, this text ought 
to be a sweet morsel to you. " Thou blessest the 
springing thereof," which proves that God sees you and 
your new-born grace. The Lord sees the first sign of 
penitence. Though you only say to yourself, " I will 
arise and go to my Father," your Father hears you. 
Though it is nothing but a desire, your Father registers 
it. " Thou puttest my tears into thy bottle. Are they 
not in thy book ?" He is watching your return ; he 
runs to meet you, and puts his arms about you, and 
kisses you with the kisses of his accepting love. O soul, 
be encouraged with that thought, that up in the cham- 
ber or down by the hedge, or wherever it is that thou 
hast sought secrecy, God is there. Dwell on the 
thought, " Thou God seest me." That is a precious 
text — " All my desire is before thee ;" and here is 
another sw r eet one, " The Lord taketh pleasure in them 
that fear him, in them that hope in his mercy." He 
can see you when you only hope in his mercy, and he 
takes pleasure in you if you have only begun to fear 
him. Here is a third choice word, " Thou wilt perfect 
that which concerneth me." Have you a concern about 
these things ? Is it a matter of soul-concern with you 
to be reconciled to God, and to have an interest in Jesus' 
precious blood? It is only "the springing thereof," 
but he blesses it. It is written, " A bruised reed he will 
not break, and the smoking flax he will not quench, till 
he bring forth judgment unto victory." There shall be 
victory for you, even before the judgment-seat of God, 
though as yet you are only like the flax that smokes and 



144 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

gives no light, or like the reed that is broken, and yields 
no music. God sees the first springing of grace. 

IV. A few words upon a fourth point : what a 

MISERY IT WOULD BE, IF IT WERE POSSIBLE, TO HAVE THIS 
SPRINGING WITHOUT GOD'S BLESSING ! 

The text says, " Thou blessest the springing there- 
of." We must, just a moment, by way of contrast, 
think of how the springing would have been without 
the blessing. Suppose we were to see a revival among 
us without God's blessing. It is my conviction that 
there are revivals which are not of God at all, but are 
produced by excitement merely. If there be no bless- 
ing from the Lord, it will be all a delusion, a bubble 
blown up into the air for a moment, and then gone to 
nothing. We shall only see the people stirred, to be- 
come the more dull and dead afterwards ; and this is a 
great mischief to the church. 

In the individual heart, if there should be a spring- 
ing up without God's blessing, there would be no good 
in it. Suppose you have good desires, but no blessing 
on these desires, they will only tantalize and worry 
you ; and then, after a time, they will be gone, and you 
will be more impervious than you were before to relig- 
ious convictions ; for, if religious desires are not of 
God's sending, but are caused by excitement, they will 
probably prevent your giving a serious hearing to the 
Word of God in times to come. If convictions do not 
soften they will certainly harden. To what extremities 
have some been driven who have had springings of a 
certain sort which have not led them to Christ ! Some 
have been crushed by despair. They tell us that 
religion crowds the madhouse : it is not true ; but there 



SPRING IN THE HEART. 1 45 

is no doubt whatever that religiousness of a certain kind 
has driven many a man out of his mind. The poor 
souls have felt their wound but have not seen the balm. 
They have not known Jesus. They have had a sense of 
sin and nothing more. They have not fled for refuge 
to the hope which God has set before them. Marvel 
not if men do go mad when they refuse the Saviour. 
It may come as a judicial visitation of God upon those 
men who, when in great distress of mind, will not fly to 
Christ. I believe it is with some just this — you must 
either fly to Jesus, or else your burden will become 
heavier and heavier until your spirit will utterly fail. 
This is not the fault of religion, it is the fault of those 
who will not accept the remedy which religion presents. 
A springing up of desires without God's blessing would 
be an awful thing, but we thank him that we are not 
left in such a case. 

V. And now I have to dwell upon the comforting 

THOUGHT THAT GOD DOES BLESS " THE SPRINGING THERE- 
OF." I wish to deal with you who are tender and 
troubled ; I want to show that God does bless your 
springing. He does it in many ways. 

Frequently he does it by the cordials which he brings. 
You have a few very sweet moments : you cannot say 
that you are Christ's, but at times the bells of your 
heart ring very sweetly at the mention of his name. 
The means of grace are very precious to you. When 
you gather to the Lord's worship you feel a holy calm, 
and you go away from the service wishing that there 
were seven Sundays in the week instead of one. By the 
blessing of God the Word has just suited your case, as 
if the Lord had sent his servants on purpose to you : 



14^ TALKS TO FARMERS. 

you lay aside your crutches for awhile, and you begin 
to run. Though these things have been sadly transient, 
they are tokens for good. 

On the other hand, if you have had none of these 
comforts, or few of them, and the means of grace have 
not been consolations to you, I want you to look upon 
that as a blessing. It may be the greatest blessing that 
God can give us to take away all comforts on the road, 
in order to quicken our running towards the end. When 
a man is flying to the City of Refuge to be protected 
from the man-slayer, it may be an act of great consid- 
eration to stay him for a moment that he may quench 
his thirst and run more swiftly afterwards ; but per- 
haps, in a case of imminent peril, it may be the kindest 
thing neither to give him anything to eat or to drink, 
nor invite him to stop for a moment, in order that he 
may fly with undiminished speed to the place of safety. 
The Lord may be blessing you in the uneasiness which 
you feel. Inasmuch as you cannot say that you are in 
Christ, it may be the greatest blessing which heaven can 
give to take away every other blessing from you, in 
order that you may be compelled to fly to the Lord. 
You perhaps have a little of your self-righteousness left, 
and while it is so you cannot get joy and comfort. The 
royal robe which Jesus gives will never shine brilliantly 
upon us till every rag of our own goodness is gone. 
Perhaps you are not empty enough, and God will never 
fill you with Christ till you are. Fear often drives men 
to faith. Have you never heard of a person walking in 
the fields into whose bosom a bird has flown because 
pursued by the hawk ? Poor, timid thing, it would not 
have ventured there had not a greater fear compelled it. 
All this may be so with you ; your fears may be sent to 



SPRING IN THE HEART. 1 4 7 

drive you more swiftly and more closely to the Saviour, 
and if so, I see in these present sorrows the signs that 
God is blessing " the springing thereof." 

In looking back upon my own " springing" I some- 
times think God blessed me then in a lovelier way than 
now. Though I would not willingly return to that early 
stage of my spiritual life, yet there were many joys 
about it. An apple tree when loaded with apples is a 
very comely sight : but give me, for beauty, the apple 
tree in bloom. The whole world does not present a 
more lovely sight than an apple blossom. Now, a full- 
grown Christian laden with fruit is a comely sight, but 
still there is a peculiar loveliness about the young Chris- 
tian. Let me tell you w T hat that blessedness is ; you have 
probably now a greater horror of sin than professors 
who have known the Lord for years ; they might wish 
that they felt your tenderness of conscience. You have 
now a graver sense of duty, and a more solemn fear of 
the neglect of it, than some who are further advanced. 
You have also a greater zeal than many : you are now 
doing your first works for God, and burning with your 
first love ; nothing is too hot or too heavy for you : I 
pray that you may never decline, but always advance. 

And now to close. I think there are three lessons 
for us to learn. First, let older saints be very gentle and kind 
to young believers. God blesses the springing thereof — 
mind that you do the same. Do not throw cold water 
upon young desires : do not snuff out young believers 
with hard questions. While they are babes and need 
the milk of the Word, do not be choking them with 
your strong meat ; they will eat strong meat by-and-by, 
but not just yet. Remember, Jacob would not over- 
drive the lambs ; be equally prudent. Teach and in- 



148 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

struct them, but let it be with gentleness and tender- 
ness, not as their superiors, but as nursing fathers far 
Christ's sake. God, you see, blesses the springing 
thereof — may he bless it through you ! 

The next thing I have to say is, fulfil the duty of 
gratitude. Beloved, if God blesses the springing thereof 
we ought to be grateful for a little grace. If you have 
only seen the first shoot peeping up through the mould 
be thankful, and you shall see the green blade waving 
in the breeze ; be thankful for the ankle-deep verdure 
and you shall soon see the commencement of the ear ; 
be thankful for the first green ears and you shall see 
the flowering of the wheat, and by-and-by its ripening, 
and the joyous harvest. 

The last lesson is one of encouragement. If God 
blesses " the springing thereof," dear beginners, what 
will he not do for you in after days ? If he gives you 
such a meal when you break your fast, what dainties 
will be on your table when he says to you, " Come and 
dine "; and what a banquet will he furnish at the sup- 
per of the Lamb ! O troubled one ! let the storms 
which howl and the snows which fall, and the wintry 
blasts that nip your springing, all be forgotten in this 
one consoling thought, that God blesses your springing, 
and whom God blesses none can curse. Over your 
head, dear, desiring, pleading, languishing soul, the 
Lord of heaven and earth pronounces the blessing of 
the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Take 
that blessing and rejoice in it evermore. Amen. 



FARM LABORERS. 

" I have planted, Apollos watered ; but God gave the increase. So then 
neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth ; but God that 
giveth the increase. Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one : and 
every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are 
laborers together with God :ye are God's husbandry. " — i Corinthians 3 : 6-9. 

I shall begin at the end of my text, because I find 
it to be the easiest way of mapping out my discourse. 
We shall first remark that the church is God ' s farm : " Ye 
are God's husbandry." In the margin of the revised 
version we read, " Ye are God's tilled ground," and 
that is the very expression for me. " Ye are God's 
tilled ground," or farm. After we have spoken of the 
farm we will next say a little upon the fact that the 
Lord employs laborers on his estate : and when we have 
looked at the laborers — such poor fellows as they are 
— we will remember that God himself is the great worker : 
" We are laborers together with God." 

I. We begin by considering that the church is 
God's farm. The Lord has made the church his own 
by his sovereign choice. He has also secured it unto 
himself by purchase, having paid for it a price immense. 
:< The Lord's portion is his people ; Jacob is the lot of 
his inheritance." Every acre of God's farm cost the 
Saviour a bloody sweat, yea, the blood of his heart. 
He loved us, and gave himself for us : that is the price 



150 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

he paid. Henceforth the church is God's freehold, and 
he holds the title deeds of it. It is our joy to feel that 
we are not our own, we are bought with a price. The 
church is God's farm by choice and purchase. 

And now he has made it his by enclosure. It lay ex- 
posed aforetime as part of an open common, bare and 
barren, covered with thorns and thistles, and the haunt 
of every wild beast ; for we were " by nature the chil- 
dren of wrath, even as others." Divine foreknowledge 
surveyed the waste, and electing love marked out its 
portion with a full line of grace, and thus set us apart 
to be the Lord's own estate forever. In due time effec- 
tual grace came forth with power, and separated us from 
the rest of mankind, as fields are hedged and ditched to 
part them from the open heath. Hath not the Lord de- 
clared that he hath chosen his vineyard and fenced it ? 

"We are a garden wall'd around, 
Chosen and made peculiar ground ; 
A little spot, enclosed by grace 
Out of the world's wide wilderness. " 

The Lord has also made this farm evidently his own 
by cultivation. What more could he have done for his farm? 
He has totally changed the nature of the soil : from 
being barren he hath made it a fruitful land. He hath 
ploughed it, and digged it, and fattened it, and watered 
it, and planted it with all manner of flowers and fruits. 
It hath already brought forth to him many a pleasant 
cluster, and there are brighter times to come, when 
angels shall shout the harvest home, and Christ " shall 
see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied." 

This farm is preserved by the Lord's continual 
protection. Net only did he enclose it, and cultivate it by 
his miraculous power, to make it his own farm, but he 



FARM LABORERS. I 5 I 

continually maintains possession of it. " I the Lord do 
keep it ; I will water it every moment : lest any 
hurt it, I will keep it night and day." If it were not 
for God's continual power her hedges would soon be 
thrown down, and wild beasts would devour her fields. 
Wicked hands are always trying to break down her walls 
and lay her waste again, so that there should be no true 
church in the world ; but the Lord is jealous for his land, 
and will not allow it to be destroyed. A church would 
not long remain a church if God did not preserve it unto 
himself. What if God should say, " I will take away 
the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up ; and break 
down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down" ? 
What a wilderness it would become. What saith he ? 
" Go ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh, where 
I set my name at the first, and see what I did to it for 
the wickedness of my people Israel." Go ye to Jerusa- 
lem, where of old was the city of his glory and the shrine 
of his indwelling, and what is left there to-day ? Go ye 
to Rome, where once Paul preached the gospel with 
power : what is it now but the centre of idolatry ? The 
Lord may remove the candlestick, and leave a place 
that was bright as day to become black as darkness 
itself. Hence God's farm remains a farm because he is 
ever in it to prevent its returning to its former wild- 
ness. Omnipotent power is as needful to keep the fields 
of the church under cultivation as to reclaim them at 
the first. 

Inasmuch as the church is God's own farm, he ex- 
pects to receive a harvest from it. The world is waste, and 
he looks for nothing from it ; but we are tilled land, and 
therefore a harvest is due from us. Barrenness suits the 
moorland, but to a farm it would be a great discredit. 



15^ 



TALKS TO FARMERS. 



Love looks for returns of love ; grace given demands 
gracious fruit. Watered with the drops of the Saviour's 
bloody sweat, shall we not bring forth a hundredfold 
to his praise ? Kept by the eternal Spirit of God, shall 
there not be produced in us fruits to his glory ? The 
Lord's husbandry upon us has shown a great expen- 
diture of cost, and. labor, and thought ; ought there 
not to be a proportionate return ? Ought not the 
Lord to have a harvest of obedience, a harvest of 
holiness, a harvest of usefulness, a harvest of praise ? 
Shall it not be so ? I think some churches forget 
that an increase is expected from every field of the 
Lord's farm, for they never have a harvest or even look 
for one. Farmers do not plough their lands or sow their 
fields for amusement ; they mean business, and plough 
and sow because they desire a harvest. If this fact 
could but enter into the heads of some professors, surely 
they would look at things in a different light ; but of 
late it has seemed as if we thought that God's church 
was not expected to produce anything, but existed for 
her own comfort and personal benefit. Brethren, it 
must not be so ; the great Husbandman must have some 
reward for his husbandry. Every field must yield its 
increase, and the whole estate must bring forth to his 
praise. We join with the bride in the Song in saying, 
" My vineyard, which is mine, is before me : thou, O 
Solomon, must have thousand, and those that keep the 
fruit thereof two hundred." 

But I come back to the place from which I started. 
This farm is, by choice, by purchase, by enclosure, by 
cultivation, by preservation, entirely the Lord's. See, 
then, the injustice of allowing any of the laborers to 
call even a part of the estate his own. When a great 



FARM LABORERS. 153 

man has a large farm of his own, what would he think if 
Hodge the ploughman should say, " Look here, I plough 
this farm, and therefore it is mine : I shall call this field 
Hodge's Acres" ? " No," says Hobbs, " I reaped that 
land last harvest, and therefore it is mine, and I shall 
call it Hobbs's Field." What if all the other laborers 
became Hodgeites and Hobbsites, and so parcelled out 
the farm among them ? I think the landlord would 
soon eject the lot of them. The farm belongs to its 
owner, and let it be called by his name ; but it is ab- 
surd to call it by the names of the men who labor upon 
it. Shall insignificant nobodies rob God of his glory ? 
Remember how Paul put it : " Who then is Paul, and 
who is Apollos ?" "Is Christ divided ? was Paul cruci- 
fied for you ? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul ?" 
The entire church belongs to him who has chosen it in 
his sovereignty, bought it with his blood, fenced it by 
his grace, cultivated it by his wisdom, and preserved it 
by his power. There is but one church on the face of the 
earth, and those who love the Lord should keep this truth 
in mind. Paul is a laborer, Apollos is a laborer, Cephas 
is a laborer ; but the farm is not Paul's, not so much as 
a rood of it, nor does a single parcel of land belong to 
Apollos, or the smallest allotment to Cephas ; for " Ye 
are Christ's." The fact is that in this case the laborers 
belong to the land, and not the land to the laborers : 
" For all things are yours ; whether Paul, or Apollos, 
or Cephas." "We preach not ourselves, but Christ 
Jesus the Lord ; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' 
sake." 

II. We have now to notice, as our second head, that 

THE GREAT HUSBANDMAN EMPLOYS LABORERS. By human 



154 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

agency God ordinarily works out his designs. He can, if he 
pleases, by his Holy Spirit get directly at the hearts of 
men, but that is his business, and not ours ; we have to 
do with such words as these : " It pleased God by the 
foolishness of preaching to save them that believe." 
The Master's commission is not, " Sit still and see the 
Spirit of God convert the nations ;" but, " Go ye into 
all the world and preach the gospel to every creat- 
ure." Observe God's method in supplying the race 
with food. In answer to the prayer, " Give us this 
day our daily bread," he might have bidden the clouds 
drop manna, morning by morning, at each man's 
door ; but he sees that it is for our good to work, 
and so he uses the hands of the ploughman and the 
sower for our supply. God might cultivate his chosen 
farm, the church, by miracle, or by angels ; but in great 
condescension he blesses her through her own sons and 
daughters. He employs us for our own good ; for 
we who are laborers in his fields receive much more 
good for ourselves than we bestow. Labor develops 
our spiritual muscle and keeps us in health. " Unto 
me," says Paul, " who am less than the least of all 
saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among 
the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ." 

Our great Master means that every laborer on his 
farm should receive some benefit from it, for he never 
muzzles the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. 
The laborer's daily bread comes out of the soil. Though 
he works not for himself, but for his Master, yet still he 
has his portion of food. In the Lord's granary there is 
seed for the sower, but there is also bread for the eater. 
However disinterestedly we may serve God in the hus- 
bandry of his church, we are ourselves partakers of the 



FARM LABORERS. 1 55 

fruit. It is a great condescension on God's part that 
he uses us at all, for we are poor tools at the best, and 
more hindrance than help. 

The laborers employed by God are all occupied upon 
needful work. Notice : "I have planted, Apollos 
watered." Who beat the big drum, or blew his own 
trumpet ? Nobody. On God's farm none are kept for 
ornamental purposes. I have read some sermons which 
could only have been meant for show, for there was not 
a grain of gospel in them. They were ploughs with 
the share left out, drills with no wheat in the box, clod- 
crushers made of butter. I do not believe that our God 
will ever pay wages to men who only walk about his 
grounds to show themselves. Orators who display 
their eloquence in the pulpit are more like gypsies 
who stray on the farm to pick up chickens, than hon- 
est laborers who work to bring forth a crop for their 
master. Many of the members of our churches live 
as if their only business on the farm was to pluck 
blackberries or gather wild flowers. They are great at 
finding fault with other people's ploughing and mowing ; 
but not a hand's turn will they do themselves. Come 
on, my good fellows. Why stand ye all the day idle ? 
The harvest is plenteous, and the laborers are few. 
You who think yourselves more cultivated than ordinary 
people, if you are indeed Christians, must not strut 
about and despise those who are hard at work. If you 
do, I shall say, " That person has mistaken his master ; 
he may probably be in the employ of some gentleman 
farmer, who cares more for show than profit ; but our 
great Lord is practical, and on his estate his laborers 
attend to needful labor." When you and I preach or 
teach it will be well if we say to ourselves, " What will 



156 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

be the use of what I am going to do ? I am about to 
teach a difficult subject ; will it do any good ? I have 
chosen an abstruse point of theology ; will it serve any 
purpose ?" Brethren, a laborer may work very hard at 
a whim of his own, and yet it may be all waste labor. 
Some discourses do little more than show the difference 
between tweed\e-dum and tweedle-^<?, and what is the 
use of that ? Suppose we sow the fields with sawdust, 
or sprinkle them with rose-water, what of that ? Will 
God bless our moral essays, and fine compositions, and 
pretty passages ? Brethren, we must aim at usefulness : 
we must as laborers together with God be occupied with 
something that is worth doing. " I," says one, " have 
planted" : it is well, for planting must be done. " I," 
answers another, "have watered" : that also is good 
and necessary. See to it that ye can each bring in a solid 
report ; but let no man be content with the mere child's- 
play of oratory, or the getting up of entertainments 
and such like. 

On the Lord's farm there is a division of labor. Even 
Paul did not say, " I have planted and watered." No, 
Paul planted. And certainly Apollos could not say, 
" I have planted as well as watered." No, it was 
enough for him to attend to the watering. No man has 
all gifts. How foolish, then, are they who say, " I enjoy 
So-and-so's ministry because he edifies the saints in 
doctrine ; but when he was away the other Sunday I 
could not profit by the preacher because he was all for 
the conversion of sinners." Yes, he was planting ; you 
have been planted a good while, and do not need 
planting again ; but you ought to be thankful that others 
are made partakers of the benefit. One soweth and an- 
other reapeth, and therefore instead of grumbling at 



FARM LABORERS. 1 57 

the honest ploughman because he did not bring a sickle 
with him, you ought to have prayed for him that he 
might have strength to plough deep and break up hard 
hearts. 

Observe that, on God's farm, there is unity of purpose 
among the laborers. Read the text. " Now he that 
planteth and he that watereth are one." One Master has 
employed them, and though he may send them out at 
different times, and to different parts of the farm, yet 
they are all one in being used for one end, to work for 
one harvest. In England we do not understand what is 
meant by watering, because the farmer could not water 
all his farm ; but in the East a farmer waters almost 
every inch of his ground. He would have no crop if 
he did not use all means for irrigating the fields. If 
you have ever been in Italy> Egypt, or Palestine, you 
will have seen a complete system of wells, pumps, 
wheels, buckets, channels, little streamlets, pipes, and 
so on, by which the water is carried all over the garden 
to every plant, otherwise in the extreme heat of the sun 
it would be dried up. Planting needs wisdom, watering 
needs quite as much, and the piecing of these two works 
together needs that the laborers should be of one mind. 
It is a bad thing when laborers are at cross purposes, and 
work against each other, and this evil is worse in the 
church than anywhere else. How can I plant with 
success if my helper will not water what I have planted ; 
or what is the use of my watering if nothing is planted ? 
Husbandry is spoiled when foolish people undertake it, 
and quarrel over it ; for from sowing to reaping the work 
is one, and all must be done to one end. Let us pull 
together all our days, for strife brings barrenness. 

We are called upon to notice in our text that all the 



158 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

laborers put together are nothing at all. '-■ Neither is he that 
planteth anything, neither he that watereth." The 
workmen are nothing at all without their master. All 
the laborers on a farm could not manage it if they had 
no one at their head, and all the preachers and Christian 
workers in the world can do nothing unless God be 
with them. Remember that every laborer on God's farm 
has derived all his qualifications from God. No man 
knows how to plant or water souls except the Lord 
teaches him from day to day. All these holy gifts are 
grants of free grace. All the laborers work under 
God's direction and arrangement, or they work in 
vain. They would not know when or how to do their 
work if their Master did not guide them by his Spirit, 
without whose help they cannot even think a good 
thought. All God's laborers must go to him for their 
seed, or else they will scatter tares. All good seed 
comes out of God's granary. If we preach, it must be 
the true word of God, or nothing can come of it. More 
than that, all the strength that is in the laborer's arm 
to sow the heavenly seed must be given by the Master. 
We cannot preach except God be with us. A sermon 
is vain talk and dreary word-spinning unless the Holy 
Spirit enlivens it. He must give us both the prepara- 
tion of the heart and the answer of the tongue, or we 
shall be as men who sow the wind. When the good seed 
is sown the whole success of it rests with God. If he 
withhold the dew and the rain the seed will never rise 
from the ground ; and unless he shall shine upon it the 
green ear will never ripen. The human heart will re- 
main barren, even though Paul himself should preach, 
unless God the Holy Ghost shall work with Paul and 
bless the word to those that hear it. Therefore, since 



FARM LABORERS. 1 59 

the increase is of God alone, put the laborers into their 
place. Do not make too much of us ; for when we have 
done all we are unprofitable servants. 

Yet, though inspiration calls the laborers nothing, it 
says that they shall be rewarded. God wo rks our good works 
in us, and then rewards us for them. Here we have men- 
tion of a personal service, and a personal reward: " Every 
man shall receive his own reward according to his own 
labor." The reward is proportionate, not to the suc- 
cess, but to the labor. Many discouraged workers may 
be comforted by that expression. You are not to be 
paid by results, but by endeavors. You may have a 
stiff bit of clay to plough, or a dreary plot of land to 
sow, where stones, and birds, and thorns, and travellers, 
and a burning sun may all be leagued against the 
seed ; but you are not accountable for these things ; 
your reward shall be according to your work. Some 
put a great deal of labor into a little field, and make 
much out of it. Others use a great deal of labor through- 
out a long life, and yet they see but small result, for it 
is written, " Onesoweth, and another reapeth" : but the 
reaping man will not get all the reward, the sowing man 
shall receive his portion of the joy. The laborers are 
nobodies, but they shall enter into the joy of their Lord. 

Unitedly, according to the text, the workers have been 
successful, and that is a great part of their reward. " I 
have planted, Apollos watered ; but God gave the in- 
crease." Frequently brethren say in their prayers, " A 
Paul may plant, an Apollos may water, but it is all in 
vain unless God gives the increase." This is quite 
true ; but another truth is too much overlooked, 
namely, that when Paul plants and Apollos waters, 
God does give the increase. We do not labor in vain. 



l6o TALKS TO FARMERS. 

There would be no increase without God ; but then we 
are not without God : when such men as Paul and 
Apollos plant and water, there is sure to be an increase ; 
they are the right kind of laborers, they work in a right 
spirit, and God is certain to bless them. This is a great 
part of the laborer's wages. 

III. So much upon the laborers. Now for the main 
point again. God himself is the great Worker. He 
may use what laborers he pleases, but the increase 
comes alone from him. Brethren, you know it is so in 
natural things : the most skilful farmer cannot make 
the wheat germinate, and grow, and ripen. He cannot 
even preserve a single field till harvest time, for the 
farmer's enemies are many and mighty. In husbandry 
there's many a slip 'twixt the cup and the lip ; and 
when the farmer thinks, good easy man, that he shall 
reap his crop, there are blights and mildews lingering 
about to rob him of his gains. God must give the 
increase. If any man is dependent on God it is the 
husbandman, and through him we are all of us depend- 
ent upon God from year to year for the food by which 
we live. Even the king must live by the produce of 
the field. God gives the increase in the barn and the 
hay-rick ; and in the spiritual farm it is even more so, 
for what can man do in this business ? If any of you 
think that it is an easy thing to win a soul I should like 
you to attempt it. Suppose that without divine aid 
you should try to save a soul — you might as well at- 
tempt to make a world. Why, you cannot create a 
fly, how can you create a new heart and a right 
spirit ? Regeneration is a great mystery, it is out of 
your reach. " The wind bloweth where it listeth, and 



FARM LABORERS. l6l 

thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence 
it cometh, and whither it goeth : so is every one that is 
born of the Spirit." What can you and I do in this mat- 
ter ? it is far beyond our line. We can tell out the truth 
of God ; but to apply that truth to the heart and con- 
science is quite another thing. I have preached Jesus 
Christ with my whole heart, and yet I know that I have 
never produced a saving effect upon a single unregener- 
ate man unless the Spirit of God has opened the heart 
and placed the living seed of truth within it. Experi- 
ence teaches us this. Equally is. it the Lord's work to 
keep the seed alive when it springs up. We think we 
have converts, and we are not long before we are disap- 
pointed in them. Many are like blossoms on our apple 
trees ; they are fair to look upon, but they do not come 
to anything ; and others are like the many little apples 
which fall off long before they have come to any size. 
He who presides over a great church, and feels an agony 
for the souls of men, will soon be convinced that if God 
does not work there will be no work done : we shall see 
no conversion, no sanctification, no final perseverance, 
no glory brought to God, no satisfaction for the pas- 
sion of the Saviour, unless the Lord be with us. Well 
said our Lord, " Without me ye can do nothing." 

Briefly I would draw certain practical lessons out 
of this important truth : the first is, if the whole farm 
of the church belongs exclusively to the great Master 
Worker, and the laborers are worth nothing without 
him, let this promote unity among all whom he employs. If 
we are all under one Master, do not let us quarrel. It 
is a miserable business when we cannot bear to see good 
being done by those of a different denomination who 



]02 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

work in ways of their own. If a new laborer comes 
on the farm, and he uses a hoe of a new shape, shall I 
become his enemy ? If he does his work better than I 
do mine, shall I be jealous ? Do you not remember 
reading in the Scriptures that, upon one occasion, the 
disciples could not cast out a devil ? This ought to 
have made them humble ; but to our surprise we read a 
few verses further on that they saw one casting out 
devils in Christ's name, and they forbade him because he 
followed not with their company. They could not cast 
out the devil themselves, and they forbade those who 
could. A certain band of people are going about win- 
ning souls, but because they are not doing it in our 
fashion, we do not like it. It is true they have odd 
ways ; but they do really save souls, and that is the 
main point. Instead of cavilling, let us encourage all 
on Christ's side. Wisdom is justified of her children, 
though some of them are far from handsome. The 
laborers ought to be satisfied with the new ploughman if 
their Master smiles upon him. Brother, if the great 
Lord has employed you, it is no business of mine to 
question his choice. Can I lend you a hand ? Can 
I show you how to work better ? Or can you show me 
how I can improve ? This is the proper behavior of 
one workman to another. 

This truth, however, ought to keep all the laborers 
very dependent. Are you going to preach, young man ? 
" Yes, I am going to do a great deal of good." Are 
you ? Have you forgotten that you are nothing ? 
" Neither is he that planteth anything." A divine is 
coming brimful of the gospel to comfort the saints. If 
he is not coming in strict dependence upon God, he, too, 
is nothing. " Neither is he that watereth anything." 



FARM LABORERS. 1 63 

Power belongeth unto God. Man is vanity and his 
words are wind ; to God alone belongeth power and 
w r isdom. If we keep our places in all lowliness our 
Lord w T ill use us ; but if we exalt ourselves he will leave 
us to our nothingness. 

Next notice that this fact ennobles everybody who labors 
in God's husbandry. My soul is lifted up with joy when I 
mark these words, " For we are laborers together with 
God ": mere laborers on his farm, and yet laborers 
with him. Does the Lord work with us ? We know he 
does by the signs following. " My Father worketh 
hitherto, and I work," is language for all the sons of 
God as well as for the great Firstborn. God is with 
you, my brethren, when you are serving him with all your 
heart. Speaking to your class concerning Jesus, it is 
God that speaks by you ; picking up that stranger on 
the way, and telling him of salvation by faith, Christ is 
speaking through you even as he spoke with the woman 
at the well ; addressing the rough crowd in the open 
air, young man, if you are preaching pardon through 
the atoning blood, it is the God of Peter who is testify- 
ing of his Son, even as he did on the day of Pentecost. 

But, lastly, how this should drive us to our knees. 
Since we are nothing without God, let us cry mightily 
unto him for help in this our holy service. Let both 
sower and reaper pray together, or they will never re- 
joice together. If the blessing be withheld, it is be- 
cause we do not cry for it and expect it. Brother labor- 
ers, come to the mercy-seat, and we shall yet see the 
reapers return from the fields bringing their sheaves 
with them, though, perhaps, they went forth weeping to 
the sowing. To our Father, who is the husbandman, 
be all glory, for ever and ever. Amen. 



WHAT THE FARM LABORERS CAN DO AND 
WHAT THEY CANNOT DO. 

"And he said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into 
the ground ; and should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should 
spring and grow up, he knoweth not how. For the earth bringeth forth fruit 
of herself ; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear. But 
when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because 
the harvest is come. " — Mark 4 : 26-29. 

There is a lesson for ' ' laborers together with God. ' ' 
It is a parable for all who are concerned in the kingdom 
of God. It will be of little value to those who are in 
the kingdom of darkness, for they are not bidden to 
sow the good seed : " Unto the wicked God saith, What 
hast thou to do to declare my statutes ?" But all who 
are commissioned to scatter seed for the Royal Hus- 
bandman, will be glad to know how the harvest is pre- 
paring for him whom they serve. Listen, then, ye that 
sow beside all waters ; ye that with holy diligence seek 
to fill the garners of heaven — listen, and may the Spirit 
of God speak into your ears as you are able to bear it. 

I. We shall, first, learn from our text what we can 
do and what we cannot do. Let this stand as our first 
head. 

" So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast 
seed into the ground :" this the gracious worker can 
do. " And the seed should spring and grow up, he 
knoweth not how :" this is what he cannot do : seed 



what the; farm laborers can and cannot do. 165 

once sown is beyond human jurisdiction, and man can 
neither make it spring nor grow. Yet ere long the 
worker comes in again : — " When the fruit is brought 
forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle." We can 
reap in due season, and it is both our duty and our priv- 
ilege to do so. You see, then, that there is a place for 
the worker at the beginning, and though there is no 
room for him in the middle passage, yet another oppor- 
tunity is given him further on when that which he sowed 
has actually yielded fruit. 

Notice, then, that we can sow. Any man who has 
received the knowledge of the grace of God in his heart 
can teach others. I include under the term " man" all 
who know the Lord, be they male or female. We can- 
not all teach alike, for all have not the same gifts ; to 
one is given one talent, and to another ten ; neither 
have we all the same opportunities, for one lives in ob- 
scurity and another has far-reaching influence ; yet 
there is not within the family of God an infant hand 
which may not drop its own tiny seed into the ground. 
There is not a man among us who needs to stand idle in 
the market-place, for work suitable to his strength is 
waiting for him. There is not a saved woman who is 
left without a holy task ; let her do it and win the ap- 
proving word, " She hath done what she could." 

We need never quarrel with God because we cannot 
do everything, if he only permits us to do this one 
thing ; for sowing the good seed is a work which will 
need all our w r it, our strength, our love, our care. Holy 
seed sowing should be adopted as our highest pursuit, 
and it will be no inferior object for the noblest life. 
You will need heavenly teaching that you may carefully 
select the wheat, and keep it free from the darnel of 



1 66 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

error. You will require instruction to winnow out of 
it your own thoughts and opinions ; for these may not 
be according to the mind of God. Men are not saved 
by our word, but by God's word. We need grace to 
learn the gospel aright, and to teach the whole of it. 
To different men we must, with discretion, bring for- 
ward that part of the word of God which will best bear 
upon their consciences ; for much may depend upon 
the word being in season. 

Having selected the seed, we shall have plenty of 
work if we go forth and sow it broadcast everywhere, 
for every day brings its opportunity, and every com- 
pany furnishes its occasion. " In the morning sow thy 
seed, and in the evening withhold not thy hand." 
" Sow beside all waters." 

Still, wise sowers discover favorable opportunities 
for sowing, and gladly seize upon them. There are 
times when it would clearly be a waste to sow ; for the 
soil could not receive it, it is not in a fit condition. 
After a shower, or before a shower, or at some such 
time as he that hath studied husbandry prefers, then 
must we be up and doing. While we are to work for 
God always, yet there are seasons when it were casting 
pearls before swine to talk of holy things, and there are 
other times when to be silent would be a great sin. 
Sluggards in the time for ploughing and sowing are 
sluggards indeed, for they not only waste the day, but 
throw away the year. If you watch for souls, and use 
hours of happy vantage, and moments of sacred soften- 
ing, you will not complain of the scanty space allowed 
for agency. Even should you never be called to water, 
or to reap, your office is wide enough if you fulfil the 
work of the sower. 



WHAT THE FARM LABORERS CAN AND CANNOT DO. 167 

For little though it seem to teach the simple truth 
of the gospel, yet it is essential. How shall men hear 
without a teacher ? Servants of God, the seed of the 
word is not like thistle-down, which is borne by every 
wind ; but the wheat of the kingdom needs a human 
hand to sow it, and without such agency it will not 
enter into men's hearts, neither can it bring forth fruit 
to the glory of God. The preaching of the gospel is 
the necessity of every age ; God grant that our country 
may never be deprived of it. Even if the Lord should 
send us a famine cf bread and of w T ater, may he never 
send us a famine of the word of God. Faith cometh by 
hearing, and how can there be hearing if there is no 
teaching ? Scatter ye, scatter ye, then, the seed of the 
kingdom, for this is essential to the harvest. 

This seed should be sown often, for many are the 
foes of the wheat, and if you repeat not your sowing 
you may never see a hardest. The seed must be sown 
everywhere, too, for there are no choice corners of the 
world that you can afford to let alone, in the hope that 
they will be self-productive. You may not leave the 
rich and intelligent under the notion that surely the 
gospel will be found among them, for it is not so : the 
pride of life leads them away from God. You may not 
leave the poor and illiterate, and say, " Surely they will 
of themselves feel their need of Christ." Not so : they 
will sink from degradation to degradation unless you 
uplift them with the gospel. No tribe of man, no pecu- 
liar constitution of the human mind, may be neglected 
by us ; but everywhere we must preach the word, in 
season and out of season. I have heard that Captain 
Cook, the celebrated circumnavigator, in whatever part 
of the earth he landed, took with him a little packet of 



1 68 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

English seeds, and scattered them in suitable places. 
He would leave the boat and wander up from the shore. 
He said nothing, but quietly scattered the seeds wher- 
ever he went, so that he belted the world with the flow- 
ers and herbs of his native land. Imitate him wherever 
you go ; sow spiritual seed in every place that your foot 
shall tread upon. 

Let us now think of what you cannot do. You can- 
not, after the seed has left your hand, cause it to put forth 
life. I am sure you cannot make it grow, for 3^ou do 
not know how it grows. The text saith, " And the seed 
should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how." 
That which is beyond the range of our knowledge is 
certainly beyond the reach of our power. Can you 
make a seed germinate ? You may place it under cir- 
cumstances of damp and heat which will cause it to 
swell and break forth with a shoot, but the germination 
itself is beyond you. How is it done ? We know not. 
After the germ has been put forth, can you make it 
further grow, and develop its life into leaf and stem ? 
No ; that, too, is out of your power. And when the 
green, grassy blade has been succeeded by the ear, can 
you ripen it ? It will be ripened ; but can you do it ? 
You know you cannot ; you can have no finger in the 
actual process, though you may promote the conditions 
under which it is carried on. Life is a mystery ; growth 
is a mystery ; ripening is a mystery : and these three 
mysteries are as fountains sealed against all intrusion. 
How comes it that there is within the ripe seed the 
preparations for another sowing and another growth ? 
What is this vital principle, this secret reproducing 
energy ? Knowest thou anything about this ? The 
philosopher may talk about chemical combinations, and 



WHAT THE FARM LABORERS CAN AND CANNOT DO. I 69 

he may proceed to quote analogies from this and that ; 
but still the growth of the seed remains a secret ; it 
springs up, he knoweth not how. Certainly this is true 
of the rise and progress of the life of God in the heart. 
It enters the soul, and roots itself we know not how. 
Naturally men hate the word, but it enters and it 
changes their hearts, so that they come to love it ; yet 
we know not how. Their whole nature is renewed, so 
that instead of producing sin it yields repentance, faith, 
and love ; but we know not how. How the Spirit of 
God deals with the mind of man, how he creates the 
new heart and the right spirit, how we are begotten 
again unto a lively hope, we cannot tell. The Holy 
Ghost enters into us ; we hear not his voice, we see not 
his light, w T e feel not his touch ; yet he worketh an 
effectual work upon us, which we are not long in per- 
ceiving. We know that the work of the Spirit is a new 
creation, a resurrection, a quickening from the dead ; 
but all these words are only covers to our utter igno- 
rance of the mode of his working, with which it is not in 
our power to meddle. We do not know how he per- 
forms his miracles of love, and, not knowing how he 
works, we may be quite sure that we cannot take the 
work out of his hands. We cannot create, we cannot 
quicken, we cannot transform, we cannot regenerate, 
we cannot save. 

This work of God having proceeded in the growth 
of the seed, what next ? We can reap the ripe ears. After 
a season God the Holy Spirit uses his servants again. 
As soon as the living seed has produced first of all the 
blade of thought, and afterwards the green ear of con- 
viction, and then faith, which is as full corn in the ear, 
then the Christian worker comes in for further service, 



170 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

for he can reap. " When the fruit is brought forth, im- 
mediately he putteth in the sickle." This is not the 
reaping of the last great day, for that does not come 
within the scope of the parable, which evidently relates 
to a human sower and reaper. The kind of reaping 
which the Saviour here intends is that which he referred 
to when he said to his disciples, " Lift up your eyes, 
and look on the fields ; for they are white already to 
harvest." After he had been sowing the seed in the 
hearts of the Samaritans, and it had sprung up, so that 
they began to evince faith in him, the Lord Jesus cried, 
" The fields are white to harvest." The apostle saith, 
" One soweth, and another reapeth." Our Lord said 
to the disciples, " I sent you to reap that whereon ye 
bestowed no labor." Is there not a promise, " In due 
season we shall reap, if we faint not" ? 

Christian workers begin their harvest work by 
watching for signs of faith in Christ. They are eager 
to see the blade, and delighted to mark the ripening 
ear. They often hope that men are believers, but they 
long to be sure of it ; and when they judge that at last 
the fruit of faith is put forth, they begin to encourage, 
to congratulate, and to comfort. They know that the 
young believer needs to be housed in the barn of Chris- 
tian fellowship, that he may be saved from a thousand 
perils. No wise farmer leaves the fruit of the field long 
exposed to the hail which might beat it out, or to the 
mildew which might destroy it, or to the birds which 
might devour it. Evidently no believing man should 
be left outside of the garner of holy fellowship ; he 
should be carried into the midst of the church with all 
the joy which attends the home-bringing of sheaves. 
The worker for Christ watches carefully, and when he 






WHAT THE FARM LABORERS CAN AND CANNOT DO. 171 

discerns that his time is come, he begins at once to fetch 
in the converts, that they may be cared for by the 
brotherhood, separated from the world, screened from 
temptation, and laid up for the Lord. He is diligent to 
do it at once, because the text saith, " immediately he 
putteth in the sickle." He does not wait for months in 
cold suspicion ; he is not afraid that he shall encourage 
too soon when faith is really present. He comes with 
the word of promise and the smile of brotherly love at 
once, and he says to the new believer, " Have you con- 
fessed your faith ? Is not the time come for an open 
confession ? Hath not Jesus bidden the believer to be 
baptized ? If you love him, keep his commandments." 
He does not rest till he has introduced the convert to 
the communion of the faithful. For our work, beloved, 
is but half done when men are made disciples and 
baptized. We have then to encourage, to instruct, to 
strengthen, to console, and succor in all times of diffi- 
culty and danger. What saith the Saviour? " Go ye 
therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptiz- 
ing them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, 
and of the Holy Ghost : teaching them to observe all 
things whatsoever I have commanded you." 

Observe, then, the sphere and limit of agency. We 
can introduce the truth to men, but that truth the Lord 
himself must bless ; the living and growing of the word 
within the soul is of God alone. When the mystic work 
of growth is done, we are able to garner the saved ones 
in the church. For Christ to be formed in men the hope 
of glory is not of our working, that remains with God ; 
but, when Jesus Christ is formed in them, to discern the 
image of the Saviour and to say, " Come in, thou blessed 
of the Lord, wherefore standest thou without ?" this is 



172 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

our duty and delight. To create the divine life is 
God's, to cherish it is ours. To cause the hidden life to 
grow is the work of the Lord ; to see the uprising and 
development of that life and to harvest it is the work 
of the faithful, even as it is written, ''When the fruit 
is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, 
because the harvest is come." 

This, then, is our first lesson ; we see what we can 
do and what we cannot do. 

II. Our second head is like unto the first, and 

Consists Of WHAT WE CAN KNOW AND WHAT WE CANNOT 
KNOW. 

First, what we can know. We can know when we 
have sown the good seed of the word that it will grow ; 
for God has promised that it shall do so. Not every 
grain in every place ; for some will go to the bird, and 
some to the worm, and some to be scorched by the sun ; 
but, as a general rule, God's word shall not return unto 
him void, it shall prosper in the thing whereto he hath 
sent it. This we can know. And we can know that 
the seed when once it takes root will continue to grow ; 
that it is not a dream of a picture that will disappear, 
but a thing of force and energy, which will advance 
from a grassy blade to corn in the ear, and under God's 
blessing will develop to actual salvation, and be as the 
" full corn in the ear." God helping and blessing it, 
our work of teaching will not only lead men to thought 
and conviction, but to conversion and eternal life. 

We also can know, because we are told so, that the 
reason for this is mainly because there is life in the 
word. In the word of God itself there is life, for it is 
written — " The word of God is quick and powerful," 



WHAT THE FARM LABORERS CAN AND CANNOT DO. I 73 

that is, " living and powerful." It is " the incorrupti- 
ble seed which liveth and abideth for ever." It is the 
nature of living seeds to grow ; and the reason why 
the word of God grows in men's hearts is because it 
is the living word of the living God, and where the word 
of a king is there is power. We know this, because the 
Scriptures teach us so. Is it not written, " Of his own 
will begat he us by the word of truth" ? 

Moreover, the earth, which is here the type of the 
man, " bringeth forth fruit of herself." We must mind 
what we are at in expounding this, for human hearts do 
not produce faith of themselves ; they are as hard rock 
on which the seed perishes. But it means this — that as 
the earth under the blessing of the dew and the rain is, 
by God's secret working upon it, made to take up and 
embrace the seed, so the heart of man is made ready to 
receive and enfold the gospel of Jesus Christ within 
itself. Man's awakened heart wants exactly what the 
word of God supplies. Moved by a divine influence the 
soul embraces the truth, and is embraced by it, and so 
the truth lives in the heart, and is quickened by it. 
Man's love accepts the love of God ; man's faith 
wrought in him by the Spirit of God believes the truth 
of God ; man's hope wrought in him by the Holy Ghost 
lays hold upon the things revealed, and so the heavenly 
seed grows in the soil of the soul. The life comes not 
from you who preach the word, but it is placed within 
the word which you preach by the Holy Spirit. The life 
is not in your hand, but in the heart which is led to take 
hold upon the truth by the Spirit of God. Salvation 
comes not from the personal authority of the preacher, 
but through the personal conviction, personal faith, 
and personal love of the hearer. So much as this 



174 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

we may know, and is it not enough for all practical 
purposes ? 

Still, there is a something which we cannot know, a 
secret into which we cannot pry. I repeat what I have 
I said before • you cannot look into men's inward parts 
and see exactly how the truth takes hold upon the 
heart, or the heart takes hold upon the truth. Many have 
watched their own feelings till they have become blind 
with despondency, and others have watched the feel- 
ings of the young till they have done them rather harm 
than good by their rigorous supervision. In God's 
work there is more room for faith than for sight. The 
heavenly seed grows secretly. You must bury it out of 
sight, or there will be no harvest. Even if you keep the 
seed above ground, and it does sprout, you cannot 
discover how it grows ; even though you microscopically 
watched its swelling and bursting, you could not see 
the inward vital force which moves the seed. Thou 
knowest not the way of the Spirit. His work is wrought 
in secret. " Explain the new birth," says somebody. 
My answer is, " Experience the new birth, and you 
shall know what it is." There are secrets into which 
we cannot enter, for their light is too bright for mortal 
eyes to endure. O man, thou canst not become om- 
niscient, for thou art a creature, and not the Creator. 
For thee there must ever be a region not only unknown 
but unknowable. So far shall thy knowledge go, but 
no farther ; and thou mayest thank God it is so, for 
thus he leaves room for faith, and gives cause for pra}^er. 
Cry mightily unto the Great Worker to do what thou 
canst not attempt to perform, that so, when thou seest 
men saved, thou mayest give the Lord all the glory 
evermore. 



WHAT THE FARM LABORERS CAN AND CANNOT DO. I 75 

III. Thirdly, our text tells us what we may expect 

IF WE WORK FOR GOD, AND WHAT WE MAY NOT EXPECT. 

According to this parable we may expect to see fruit. The 
husbandman casts his seed into the ground : the seed 
springs and grows, and he naturally expects a harvest. 
I wish I could say a word to stir up the expectations of 
Christian workers ; for I fear that many work without 
faith. If you had a garden or a field, and you sow seed 
in it, you would be very greatly surprised and grieved 
if it did not come up at all ; but many Christian people 
seem quite content to work on without expectation of 
result. This is a pitiful kind of working — pulling up 
empty buckets by the year together. Surely, I must 
either see some result for my labor and be glad, or else, 
failing to see it, I must be ready to break my heart if 
I be a true servant of the great Master. We ought to 
have expected results ; if we had expected more we 
should have seen more ; but a lack of expectation has 
been a great cause of failure in God's workers. 

But zv e may not expect to see all the cecal which we sow 
spring up t\e moment we sow it. Sometimes, glory be to 
God, we have but to deliver the word, and straightway 
men are converted : the reaper overtakes the sower, in 
such instances ; but it is not always so. Some sow^ers have 
been diligent for years upon their plots of ground, and 
yet apparently all has been in vain ; at last the harvest 
has come, a harvest which, speaking after the manner of 
men, had never been reaped if they had not persevered 
to the end. This world, as I believe, is to be converted 
to Christ ; but not to-day, nor to-morrow, peradventure 
not for many an age ; but the sowing of the centuries is 
not being lost, it is working on toward the grand ulti- 
matum. A crop of mushrooms may soon be produced ; 



176 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

but a forest of oaks will not reward the planter till gen- 
erations of his children have mouldered in the dust. It 
is ours to sow, and to hope for quick reaping ; but still 
we ought to remember that " the husbandman waiteth 
for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long pa- 
tience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain," 
and so must we. We are to expect results, but not to 
be dispirited if we have to wait for them. 

We are also to expect to see the good seed grow, 
but not always after our fashion. Like children, we are 
apt to be impatient. Your little boy sowed mustard 
and cress yesterday in his garden. This afternoon 
Johnny will be turning over the ground to see if the 
seed is growing. There is no probability that his mus- 
tard and cress will come to anything, for he will not let 
it alone long enough for it to grow. So is it with hasty 
workers ; they must see the result of the gospel directly, 
or else they distrust the blessed word. Certain preach- 
ers are in such a hurry that they will allow no time 
for thought, no space for counting the cost, no oppor- 
tunity for men to consider their ways and turn to the 
Lord with full purpose of heart. All other seeds take 
time to grow, but the seed of the word must grow be- 
fore the speaker's eyes like magic, or he thinks nothing 
has been done. Such good brethren are so eager to 
produce blade and ear there and then, that they roast 
their seed in the fire of fanaticism, and it perishes. 
They make men think thatthey.are converted, and thus 
effectually hinder them from coming to a saving knowl- 
edge of the truth. Some men are prevented from being 
saved by being told that they are saved already, and by 
being puffed up with a notion of perfection when they are 
not even broken in heart. Perhaps if such people had 



WHAT THE FARM LABORERS CAN AND CANNOT DO. I 77 

been taught to look for something deeper they might 
not have been satisfied with receiving seed on stony 
ground ; but now they exhibit a rapid development, 
and an equally rapid decline and fall. Let us believ- 
ingly expect to see the seed grow ; but let us look to see 
it advance after the manner of the preacher— firstly, 
secondly, thirdly : first the blade, then the ear, then 
the full corn in the ear. 

We may expect also to see the seed ripen. Our 
works will by God's grace lead up to real faith in those 
he hath wrought upon by his word and Spirit ; but we 
must not expect to see it perfect at first. How many mistakes 
have been made here. Here is a young person under 
impression, and some good, sound brother talks with 
the trembling beginner, and asks profound questions. 
He shakes his experienced head, and knits his furrowed 
brows. He goes into the corn-field to see how the crops 
are prospering, and though it is early in the year, he 
laments that he cannot see an ear of corn ; indeed, he 
perceives nothing but mere grass. " I cannot see a 
trace of corn," says he. No, brother, of course you 
cannot ; for you will not be satisfied w 7 ith the blade as 
an evidence of life, but must insist upon seeing every- 
thing at full growth at once. If you had looked for the 
blade you would have found it ; and it would have en- 
couraged you. For my own part, I am glad even to 
perceive a faint desire, a feeble longing, a degree of 
uneasiness, or a measure of weariness of sin,„or a crav- 
ing after mercy. Will it not be wise for you, also, to 
allow things to begin at the beginning, and to be satis- 
fied with their being small at the first ? See the blade 
of desire, and then watch for more. Soon you shall see a 
little more than desire ; for there shall be conviction and 



178 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

resolve, and after that a feeble faith, small as a mustard 
seed, but bound to grow. Do not despise the day of 
small things. Do not examine the new-born babe to 
see whether he is sound in doctrine after your idea of 
soundness ; ten to one he is a long way off sound, and 
you will only worry the dear heart by introducing 
difficult questions. Speak to him about his being a 
sinner, and Christ a Saviour, and you will in this way 
water him so that his grace in the ear will become the 
full corn in the ear. It may be that there is not much 
that looks like wheat about him yet ; but by-and-by you 
shall say, " Wheat ! ah, that it is, if I know wheat. 
This man is a true ear of corn, and gladly will I place 
him among my Master's sheaves." If you cut down 
the blades, where will the ears come from ? Expect 
grace in your converts ; but do not look to see glory in 
them just yet. 

IV. Under the last head we shall consider what 

SLEEP WORKERS MAY TAKE. AND WHAT THEY MAY NOT 

take ; for it is said of this sowing man, that he sleeps 
and rises night and day, and the seed springs and grows 
up he knoweth not how. They say a farmer's trade is 
a good one because it is going on while he is abed and 
asleep ; and surely ours is a good trade, too, when we 
serve our Master by sowing good seed ; for it is grow- 
ing even while we are asleep. 

But how may a good workman for Christ lawfully 
go to sleep ? I answer, first, he may sleep the sleep of 
restfulness born of confidence. You are afraid the king- 
dom of Christ will not come, are you ? Who asked you 
to tremble for the ark of the Lord ? Afraid for the 
infinite Jehovah that his purposes will fail ? Shame on 



WHAT THE FARM LABORERS CAN AND CANNOT DO. I 79 

you! Your anxiety dishonors your God. Shall Omnip- 
otence be defeated ? You had better sleep than wake 
to play the part of Uzzah. Rest patiently ; God's pur- 
pose will be accomplished, his kingdom will come, his 
chosen will be saved, and Christ shall see of the travail 
of his soul. Take the sweet sleep which God gives to 
his beloved, the sleep of perfect confidence, such as Jesus 
slept in the hinder part of the ship when it was tossed 
with tempest. The cause of God never was in jeopardy, 
and never will be ; the seed sown is insured by Om- 
nipotence, and must produce its harvest. In patience 
possess your soul, and wait till the harvest comes, for 
the pleasure. of the Lord must prosper in the hands of 
Jesus. 

Also take that sleep of joyful expectancy which leads 
to a happy waking. Get up in the morning and feel 
that the Lord is ruling all things for the attainment of 
his own purposes, and the highest benefit of all who put 
their trust in him. Look for a blessing by day, and 
close your eyes at night calmly expecting to meet 
with better things to-morrow. If you do not sleep you 
will not w r ake up in the morning refreshed, and ready 
for more work. If it were possible for you to sit up all 
night and eat the bread of carefulness you would be unfit 
to attend to the service which your Master appoints for 
the morning ; therefore take your rest and be at peace, 
and work with calm dignity, for the matter is safe in the 
Lord's hands. Is it not written, " So he giveth his 
beloved sleep"? 

Take your rest because you have consciously re- 
signed your work into God's hands. After you have 
spoken the word, resort to God in prayer, and com- 
mit the matter into God's hand, and then do not fret 



l8o TALKS TO FARMERS. 

about it. It cannot be in better keeping, leave it with 
him who worketh all in all. 

But do not sleep the sleep of unwatchfulness. 
The farmer sows his seed, but he does not therefore 
forget it. He has to mend his fences, to drive away 
birds, to remove weeds, or to prevent floods. He does 
not watch the growth of the seed, but he has plenty else 
to do. He sleeps, but it is only in due time and meas- 
ure, and is not to be confounded with the sluggard's 
slumbers. He never sleeps the sleep of indifference, or 
even of inaction, for each season has its demand upon 
him. He has sown one field, but he has another to 
sow. He has sown, but he has also to reap ; and if reap- 
ing is done, he has to thresh and to winnow. A farmer's 
work is never done, for in one part or the other of the 
farm he is needed. His sleep is but a pause that gives 
him strength to continue his occupation. The parable 
teaches us to do all that lies within our province, but 
not to intrude into the domain of God : in teaching to 
the era we are to labor diligently, but with regard to 
the secret working of truth upon man's mind, we are 
to pray and rest, looking to the Lord for the inward 
power. 



THE SHEEP BEFORE THE SHEARERS. 

"As a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth." 
—Isaiah 53: 7. 

Our Lord Jesus so took our place that we are in 
this chapter compared to sheep : " All we like sheep 
have gone astray," and he is compared to a sheep also — 
"Asa sheep before her shearers is dumb." It is wonder- 
ful how complete was the interchange of positions be- 
tween Christ and his people, so that he became what 
they were in order that they might become what he is. 
We can well understand how we should be the sheep 
and he the shepherd ; but to liken the Son of the High- 
est to a sheep would have been unpardonable presump- 
tion had not his own Spirit employed the condescend- 
ing figure. 

Though the emblem is very gracious, its use in 
this place is by no means singular, for our Lord had 
been before Isaiah's day typified by the lamb of the 
Passover. Since then he has been proclaimed as " the 
Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world ;" 
and indeed even in his glory he is the Lamb in the 
midst of the throne. 

I. In opening up this divine emblem I would invite 
you to consider, first, our Saviour's patience, set forth 
under the figure of a sheep dumb before her shearers. 



]82 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

Our Lord was brought to the shearers that he 
might be shorn of his comfort, and of his honor, shorn 
even of his good name, and shorn at last of his life itself ; 
but when under the shearers he was as silent as a sheep. 
How patient he was before Pilate, and Herod, and Caia- 
phas, and on the cross ! You have no record of his 
uttering any exclamation of impatience at the pain and 
shame which he received at the hands of these wicked 
men. You hear not one bitter word. Pilate cries, 
" Answerest thou nothing ? Behold how many things 
they witness against thee*'; and Herod is wofully 
disappointed, for he expected to see some miracle 
wrought by him. All that our Lord does say is in 
submissive tones, like the bleating of a sheep, though 
infinitely more full of meaning. He utters sentences like 
these—" For this purpose was I born, and came into the 
world, that I might bear witness to the truth," and, 
" Father, forgive them, for they know not what they 
do." Otherwise he is all patience and silence. 

Remember, first, that our Lord was dumb and 
opened not his mouth against his adversaries, and did not 
accuse one of them of cruelty or injustice. They slan- 
dered him, but he replied not ; false witnesses arose, but 
he answered them not. One would have thought he must 
have spoken when they spat in his face. Might he not 
have said, " Friend, .why doest thou this? For which 
of all my works dost thou insult me ?" But the time for 
such expostulations was over. When they smote him on 
the face with the palms of their hands, it would not have 
been wonderful if he had said, " Wherefore do you 
smite me so ?" But no ; he is as though he heard not 
their revilings. He brings no accusation to his Father. 
He needed only to have lifted his eye to heaven, and 



THE SHEEP BEFORE THE SHEARERS. 183 

legions of angels would have chased away the ribald 
soldiery ; one flash of a seraph's wing and Herod had 
been eaten by worms, and Pilate had died the death he 
well deserved as an unjust judge. The hill of the cross 
might have become a volcano's mouth to swallow up 
the whole multitude who stood there jesting and jeering 
at him : but no, there was no display of power, or rather 
there was so great a display of power over himself that 
he restrained Omnipotence itself with a strength which 
never can be measured. 

Again, as he did not utter a word against his adver- 
saries, so he did not say a word against any one of us. You 
remember how Zipporah said to Moses, ' ' Surely a bloody 
husband art thou to me, ' ' as she saw her child bleeding ; 
and surely Jesus might have said to his church, " Thou 
art a costly spouse to me, to bring me all this shame 
and bloodshedding." But he giveth liberally, he open- 
eth the very fountain of his heart, and he upbraid- 
eth not. He had reckoned on the uttermost expendi- 
ture, and therefore he endured the cross, despising the 
shame. 

" This was compassion like a God, 

That when the Saviour knew, 
The price of pardon was his blood, 

His pity ne'er withdrew. " 

No doubt he looked across the ages ; for that eye 
of his was not dim, even when bloodshot on the tree : 
he must have foreseen your indifference and mine, our 
coldness of heart, and base unfaithfulness, and he might 
have left on record some such words as these : " I am 
suffering for those who are utterly unworthy of my re- 
gard ; their love will be a miserable return for mine. 
Though I give my whole heart for them, how lukewarm 



184 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

is their love to me ! I am sick of them, I am weary of 
them, and it is woe to me that I should be laying down 
my heart's blood for such a worthless race as these my 
people are." But there is not a hint of such a feeling. 
No. " Having loved his own which were in the world, 
he loved them unto the end," and he did not utter a 
syllable that looked like murmuring at his suffering on 
their behalf, or regretting that he had commenced the 
work. 

And again, as there was not a word against his 
adversaries, nor a word against you nor me, so their 
was not a word against his Father, nor a syllable of 
repining at the severity of the chastisement laid upon 
him for our sakes. You and I have murmured when 
under a comparatively light grief, thinking ourselves 
hardly done b}\ We have dared to cry out against 
God, " My face is foul with weeping, and on my eye- 
lids is the shadow of death ; not for any injustice in 
mine hands : also my prayer is pure." But not so the 
Saviour ; in his mouth were no complaints. It is quite 
impossible for us to conceive how the Father pressed 
and bruised him, yet was there no repining. " My God, 
my God, why hast thou forsaken me ?" is an exclamation 
of astonished grief, but it is not the voice of complaint. 
It shows manhood in weakness, but not manhood in 
revolt. Many are the Lamentations of Jeremiah, but 
few are the lamentations of Jesus. Jesus wept, and 
Jesus sweat great drops of blood, but he never murmur- 
ed nor felt rebellion in his heart. 

Behold your Lord and Saviour lying in passive 
resignation beneath the shearers, as they take away 
everything that is dear to him, and yet he openeth not 
his mouth. I see in this our Lord's complete submission. 



THE SHEEP BEFORE THE SHEARERS. 1 85 

He gives himself up ; there is no reserve about it. The 
sacrifice did not need binding with cords to the horns 
of the altar. How different from your case and mine ! 
He stood there willing to suffer, to be spit upon, to be 
shamefully entreated, and to die, for in him there was a 
complete surrender. He was wholly given to do the 
Father's will, and to work out our redemption. There 
was complete self-conquest too. In him no faculty arose 
to plead for liberty, and ask to be exempted from the 
general strain ; no limb of the body, no portion of the 
mind, no faculty of the spirit started, but all submitted 
to the divine will : the whole Christ gave up his whole 
being unto God, that he might perfectly offer himself 
without spot for our redemption. 

There was not only self-conquest, but complete absorp- 
tion in his work. The sheep, lying there, thinks no more 
of the pastures, it yields itself up to the shearer. The 
zeal of God's house did eat up our Lord in Pilate's 
hall as well as everywhere else, for there he witnessed a 
good confession. No thought had he but for the clear- 
ing of the divine honor, and the salvation of God's 
elect. Brethren, I wish we could arrive at this, to sub- 
mit our whole spirit to God, to learn self-conquest, and 
the delivering up of conquered self entirely to God. 

The wonderful serenity and submissiveness of our 
Lord are still better set forth by our text, if it be indeed 
true that sheep in the East are even more docile than 
with us. Those who have seen the noise and roughness 
of many of our washings and shearings will hardly believe 
the testimony of that ancient writer Philo-Judaeus when 
he affirms that the sheep came voluntarily to be shorn. 
He says : " Woolly rams laden with thick fleeces put 
themselves into the shepherd's hands to have their wool 



1 86 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

shorn, being thus accustomed to pay their yearly tribute 
to man, their king by nature. The sheep stands in a 
silent inclining posture, unconstrained under the hand 
of the shearer. These things may appear strange to 
those who do not know the docility of the sheep, but 
they are true." Marvellous indeed was this submis- 
siveness in our Lord's case ; let us admire and imitate. 

II. Thus I have feebly set forth the patience of our 
beloved Master. Now I want you to follow me, in the 
second place, to view our own case under the same 
metaphor as that which is used in reference to our 
Lord. 

Did I not begin by saying that because we were 
sheep he deigns to compare himself to a sheep ? Let 
us look from another point of view ; our Lord was a 
sheep under the shearers, and as he is so are we also in 
this world. Though we shall never be offered up like 
lambs in the temple by way of expiation, yet the saints 
for ages were the flock of slaughter, as it is written, 
" For thy sake we are killed all the day long, we are ac- 
counted as sheep for the slaughter !" Jesus sends us 
forth as sheep in the midst of wolves, and we are to re- 
gard ourselves as living sacrifices, ready to be offered 
up. I dwell, however, more particularly upon the sec- 
ond symbol : we are brought as sheep under the shear- 
ers' hands. 

Just as a sheep is taken by the shearer, and its wool is 
all cut off, so doth the Lord take his people and shear 
them, taking away all their earthly comforts, and leav- 
ing them bare. I wish when it came to our turn to un- 
dergo this shearing operation it could be said of us as of 
our Lord, "As a sheep before her shearers is dumb, 



THE SHEEP BEFORE THE SHEARERS. 1 87 

so he openeth not his mouth." I fear that we open our 
mouths a great deal, and make no end of complaining 
without any apparent cause, or with the very slenderest 
reason. But now to the figure. 

First, remember that a sheep rewards its owner for all 
his care and trouble by being shorn. There is nothing else 
that I know of that a sheep can do. It yields food when 
it is killed, but while it is alive the one payment that 
the sheep can make to the shepherd is to yield its fleece 
in due season. Some of God's people can give to Christ 
a tribute of gratitude by active service, and they should 
do so gladly every day of their lives ; but many others 
cannot do much in active service, and about the only 
reward they can give to their Lord is to render up their 
fleece by suffering when he calls upon them to suffer, 
submissively yielding to be shorn of their personal com- 
fort when the time comes for patient endurance. 

Here comes the shearer ; he takes the sheep and be- 
gins to cut, cut, cut, cut, taking away the wool whole- 
sale. Affliction is often used as the big shears. The 
husband, or perhaps the wife, is removed, little children 
are taken away, property is shorn off, and health is 
gone. Sometimes the shears cut off the man's good 
name ; slander follows ; comforts vanish. Well, this is 
your shearing time, and it may be that you are not able 
to glorify God to any very large extent except by under- 
going this process. If this be the fact, do you not think 
that we, like good sheep of Christ, should surrender 
ourselves cheerfully, feeling, " I lay myself down with 
this intent, that thou shouldst take from me anything 
and everything, and do what thou wilt with me ; for I 
am not mine own, I am bought with a price"? 

Notice that, the sheep is itself benefited by the operation 



l88 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

of shearing. Before they begin to shear the sheep the 
wool is long and old, and every bush and brier tears off 
a bit of the wool, until the sheep looks ragged and 
forlorn. 

If the wool were left, when the heat of summer came 
the sheep would not be able to bear itself, it would be 
so overloaded with clothing that it would be as uncom- 
fortable as we are when we have kept on our borrowed 
wool, our flannels and broadcloths, too late. So, breth- 
ren, when the Lord shears us, we do not like the opera- 
tion any more than the sheep do ; but first, it is for his 
glory j and secondly, it is for our benefit, and therefore 
we are bound most willingly to submit. There are many 
things which we should have liked to have kept which, if 
we had kept them, would not have proved blessings but 
curses. A stale blessing is a curse. The manna, though 
it came from heaven, was only good so long as God's 
command made it a blessing, but when they kept it over 
its due time it bred worms and stank, and then it was 
no blessing. Many persons would keep their mercies 
till they turn to corruption ; but God will not have it so. 
Up to a certain point for you to be wealthy was a bless- 
ing ; it would not have been a blessing any longer, and 
so the Lord took your riches away. Up to that point 
your child was a boon, but it would have been no longer 
so, and therefore it fell sick and died. You may not be 
able to see it, but it is so, that God, when he withdraws 
a blessing from his people, takes it away because it 
would not be a blessing any longer. 

Before sheep are shorn they are always washed. Were 
yon ever present at the scene when they drive them 
down to the brook ? Men are placed in rows, leading 
to the shepherd who stands in the water. The sheep 



THE SHEEP BEFORE THE SHEARERS. 1S9 

are driven down, and the men seize them, throw 
them into the pool, keeping their faces above water, 
and swirl them round and round and round to 
wash the wool before they clip it off. You see 
them come out on the other side frightened to death, 
poor things, wondering whatever is coming. I want 
to suggest to you, brethren, that whenever a trial 
threatens to overtake you, you should entreat the Lord 
to sanctify it to you. If the good Shepherd is going to 
clip your wool, ask him to wash it before he takes it off ; 
ask to be cleansed in spirit, soul, and body. That is a 
very good custom Christian people have of asking a 
blessing on their meals before they eat bread. Do you 
not think it is even more necessary to ask a blessing on 
our troubles before we get into them ? Here is your 
dear child likely to die ; will you not, dear parents, 
meet together and ask God to bless the death of that 
child, if it is to happen ? The harvest fails ; would it not 
be well to say — " Lord, sanctify this poverty, this loss, 
this year's bad harvest : cause it to be a means of grace 
to us." Why not ask a blessing on the cup of bitterness 
as well as upon the cup of thanksgiving ? Ask to be 
washed before you are shorn, and if the shearing must 
come, let it be your chief concern to yield clean wool. 

After the washing, when the sheep has been dried, 
it actually loses what was its comfort. The sheep is thrown 
down, and the shearers get to work ; the poor creature 
is losing its comfortable fleece. You also will have to 
part with your comforts. Will you recollect this ? 
The next time you receive a fresh blessing call it a 
loan. Poor sheep, there is no wool on your back but 
what will have to come off ; child of God, there is no 
earthly comfort in your possession but what will either 



I90 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

leave you, or you will leave it. Nothing is our own 
except our God. '■ Why," says one, " not our sin ? " 
Sin was our own, but Jesus has taken it upon himself, 
and it is gone. There is nothing our own but our God, 
for all his gifts are held on lease, terminable at his 
sovereign will. We foolishly consider that our mercies 
belong to us, and when the Lord takes them away we 
half grumble. A loan, they say, should go laughing 
home, and so should we rejoice when the Lord takes back 
that which he had lent us. All our possessions are but 
brief favors borrowed for the hour. As the sheep yields 
up its wool and so loses its comfort, so must we yield 
up all our earthly properties ; or if they remain with us 
till we die, we shall part with them then, we shall not 
take so much as one of them across the stream of death. 
The shearers take care not to hurt the sheep j they clip 
as close as they can, but they do not cut the skin. If 
possible, they will not draw bood, even in the smallest 
degree. When they do make a gash, it is because the 
sheep does not lie still ; but a careful shearer has blood- 
less shears. Of this Thomson sings in his " Seasons," 
and the passage is so good an illustration of the whole 
subject that 1 will adorn my discourse with it : 

" How meek, how patient, the mild creature lies ! 
What softness in its melancholy face, 
What dumb complaining innocence appears ! 
Fear not, ye gentle tribes ! 'tis not the knife 
Of horrid slaughter that is o'er you waved ; 
No, 'tis the tender swain's well guided shears, 
Who having now, to pay his annual care, 
Borrow'd your fleece, to you a cumbrous load, 
Will send you bounding to your hills again." 

It is the kicking and the struggling that make the 
shearing work at all hard, but if we are dumb before 



THE SHEEP BEFORE THE SHEARERS. If) I 

the shearers no harm can come. The Lord may clip 
wonderfully close ; I have known him clip some so close 
that they did not seem to have a bit of wool left, for 
[hey were stripped entirely, even as Job when he cried, 
" Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked 
shall I return thither." Still, like Job, they have added, 
' The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away ; 
blessed be the name of the Lord." 

Notice that the shearers always shear at a suitable 
time. It would be a very wicked, cruel, and unwise 
thing to begin sheep-shearing in winter time. There is a 
proverb which talks about God " tempering the wind to 
the shorn lamb." It may be so, but it is a very cruel 
practice to shear lambs while winds need tempering. 
Sheep are shorn when it is warm, genial weather, when 
they can afford to lose their fleeces, and are all the 
better for being relieved of them. As the summer comes 
on sheep-shearing time comes. Have you ever noticed 
that whenever the Lord afflicts us he selects the best 
possible time ? There is a prayer that he puts into his 
disciples' mouths, " Pray that your flight be not in the 
winter ;" the spirit of that prayer may be seen in the 
seasonableness of our sorrows. He will not send us our 
worst troubles at our worst times. If your soul is de- 
pressed the Lord does not send you a very heavy burden ; 
he reserves such a load for times when you have joy in 
the Lord to be your strength. It has come to be a kind 
of feeling with us that when we have much delight a 
trial is near, but when sorrow thickens deliverance is 
approaching. The Lord does not send us two burdens 
at a time ; or, if he does, he sends double strength. 
His shearing time is chosen with tender discretion. 

There is another thing to remember. It is with us 



I92 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

as with the sheep, there is new wool coming. Whenever 
the Lord takes away our earthly comforts with one 
hand, one, two, three, he restores with the other hand 
six, a score, a hundred ; we are crying and whining 
about the little loss, and yet it is necessary in order that 
we may be able to receive the great gain. Yes, it will 
be so, we shall have cause for rejoicing, " joy cometh 
in the morning." If we have lost one position, there is 
another for us ; if we have been driven out of one 
place, a better refuge is prepared. Providence opens a 
second door when it shuts the first. If the Lord takes 
away the manna, as he did from his people Israel, it is 
because they have the old corn of the land of Canaan 
to live upon. If the water of the rock did not follow 
the tribes any longer, it was because they drank of the 
Jordan, and of the brooks. O sheep of the Lord's fold, 
there is new wool coming : therefore do not fret at the 
shearing. I have given these thoughts in brief, that we 
may come to the last word. 

III. Let us, in the third place, endeavor to imitate 

THE EXAMPLE OF OUR BLESSED LORD WHEN OUR TURN COMES 

to be shorn. Let us be dumb before the shearers, sub- 
missive, quiescent, even as he was. 

I have been giving, in everything I have said, a 
reason for so doing. I have shown that our shear- 
ing by affliction glorifies God, rewards the Shepherd, 
and benefits ourselves. I have shown that the Lord 
measures and tempers our affliction, and sends the trial 
at the right time. I have shown you in many ways that 
it will be wise to submit ourselves as the sheep does to 
the shearer, and that the more completely we do so the 
better. 



THE SHEEP BEFORE THE SHEARERS. 193 

We struggle far too much, and we are apt to make 
excuses for so doing. Sometimes we say, " Oh, this is 
so painful, I cannot be patient ! I could have borne any- 
thing else but this." When a father is going to cor- 
rect his child, does he select something pleasant ? No. 
The painfulness of the punishment is the essence of it, 
and even so the bitterness of our sorrow is the soul of our 
chastening. By the blueness of the wound the heart 
will be made better. Do not repine because your trial 
seems strange and sharp. That would in fact be saying, 
" If I have it all my own way I will, but if everything 
does not please me I will rebel ;" and that is not a fit 
spirit for a child of God. 

Sometimes we complain because of our great weak- 
ness. " Lord, were I stronger I would not mind this 
heavy loss ; but I am frail as a sere leaf driven of the 
tempest." But who is to be the judge of the suitability 
of your trial? You or God ? Since the Lord judges this 
trial to be suitable to your weakness, you may be sure 
that it is so. Lie still ! Lie still ! " Alas," you say, 
11 my grief comes from the most cruel quarter ; this 
trouble did not arise directly from God, it came through 
my cousin or my brother who ought to have treated me 
with gratitude. It was not an enemy ; then I could 
have borne it." My brother, let me assure you that in 
reality trial comes not from an enemy after all. God is 
at the bottom of all your tribulation ; look through the 
second causes to the great First Cause. It is a great 
mistake when we fret over the human instrument which 
smites us, and forget the hand which uses the rod. If 
I strike a dog, he bites my stic^ ; poor creature, he 
knows no better ; but if he could think a little he would 
bite me, or else take the blow submissively. Now, you 



194 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

must not begin biting the stick. After all, it is your 
heavenly Father that uses the staff ; though it be of 
ebony or of blackthorn, it is in his hand. It is well to 
have done with picking and choosing our trials, and 
to leave the whole matter in the hand of infinite wisdom. 
A sweet singer has put this matter very prettily ; let 
me quote the lines : 

4 ' But when my Lord did ask me on what side 
I were content, 
The grief whereby I must be purified, 
To me was sent, 

" As each imagined anguish did appear, 
Each withering bliss 
Before my soul, I cried, l Oh ! spare me here, 
Oh, no, not this ! ' 

" Like one that having need of, deep within, 
The surgeon's knife, 
Would hardly bear that it should graze the skin, 
Though for his life. 

" Nay, then, but he, who best doth understand 
Both what we need, 
And what can bear, did take my case in hand, 
Nor crying heed. " 

This is the pith of my sermon : oh, believer, yield 
thyself ! Lie passive in the hands of God ! Yield thee, 
and struggle not ! There is no use in struggling, for our 
great Shearer, if he means to shear, will do it. Did I 
not say just now that the sheep, by struggling, might 
be cut by the shears ? So you and I, if we struggle 
against God, will get two strokes instead of one ; and 
after all there is not half so much trouble in a trouble 
as there is in kicking against the trouble. The Eastern 
ploughman has a goad, and pricks the ox to make it move 
more actively ; he does not hurt it much by his gentle 



THE SHEEP BEFORE THE SHEARERS. 1 95 

prodding, but suppose the ox flings out its leg the 
moment it touches him, he drives the goad into himself, 
and bleeds. So it is with us, we shall find it hard to 
kick against the pricks ; we shall endure much more 
pain by rebelling than would have come if we had yield- 
ed to the divine will. What good comes of fretting ? 
We cannot make one hair white or black. You that are 
troubled, rest with us, for you cannot make shower or 
shine, foul or fair, with all your groaning. Did you 
ever bring a penny into the till by fretting, or put a loaf 
on the table by complaint ? Murmuring is wasted 
breath, and fretting is wasted time. To lie passive in 
the hand of God brings a blessing to the soul. I would 
myself be more quiet, calm, and self-possessed. I long 
to cry habitually, " Lord, do what thou wilt, when thou 
wilt, as thou wilt, with me, thy servant ; appoint me 
honor or dishonor, wealth or poverty, sickness or health, 
exhilaration or depression, and I will take all right 
gladly from thy hand." A man is not far from the 
gates of heaven when he is fully submissive to the 
Lord's will. 

You that have been shorn have, I hope, received 
comfort through the ever blessed Spirit of God. May 
God bless you. Oh that the sinner, too, would humble 
himself under the mighty hand of God ! Submit 
yourselves unto God, let every thought be brought into 
captivity to him, and the Lord send his blessing, for 
Christ's sake. Amen. 



IN THE HAY-FIELD. 

" He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle. " — Psalm 104 : 14. 

At the appointed season all the world is busy with 
ingathering the grass crop, and you can scarcely ride a 
mile in the country without scenting the delicious fra- 
grance of the new-mown hay, and hearing the sharpen- 
ing of the mower's scythe. There is a gospel in the 
hay-field, and that gospel we intend to bring out as we 
may be enabled by the Holy Spirit. 

Our text conducts us at once to the spot, and we 
shall therefore need no preface. " He causeth the grass 
to grow for the cattle " — three things we shall notice ; 
first, that grass is in itself instructive j secondly, that grass 
is far more so when God is seen in it; and thirdly, that by 
the growth of grass for the cattle, the ways of grace may be 
illustrated. 

I. First, then, " He causeth the grass to grow for 
the cattle." Here we have something which is in it- 
self instructive. Scarcely any emblem, with the ex- 
ception of water and light, is more frequently used by 
inspiration than the grass of the field. 

In the first place, the grass may be instructively 
looked upon as the symbol of our mortality. " All flesh is 
grass." The whole history of man may be seen in the 
meadow. He springs up green and tender, subject to 



IN THE HAY-FIELD. 197 

the frosts of infancy, which imperil his young life ; he 
grows, he comes to maturity, he puts on beauty even as 
the grass is adorned with flowers ; but after a while his 
strength departs and his beauty is wrinkled, even as 
the grass withers and is followed by a fresh generation, 
which withers in its turn. Like ourselves, the grass 
ripens but to decay. The sons of men come to matu- 
rity in due time, and then decline and wither as the 
green herb. Some of the grass is not left to come to 
ripeness at all, but the mower's scythe removes it, even 
as swift-footed death overtakes the careless children 
of Adam. " In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth 
up ; in the evening it is cut down, and withereth. For 
we are consumed by thine anger, and by thy wrath are 
we troubled." " As for man, his days are as grass : 
as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. For the wind 
passeth over it, and it is gone ; and the place thereof 
shall know it no more." This is very humbling ; and 
we need frequently to be reminded of it, or we dream 
of immortality beneath the stars. We ought never to 
tread upon the grass without remembering that whereas 
the green sod covers our graves, it also reminds us of 
them, and preaches by every blade a sermon to us con- 
cerning our mortality, of which the text is, " All flesh 
is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower 
of the field." 

In the second place, grass is frequently used in 
Scripture as an emblem of the wicked. David tells us from 
his own experience that the righteous man is apt to 
grow envious of the wicked when he sees the prosperity 
of the ungodly. We have seen them spreading them- 
selves like green bay trees, and apparently fixed and 
rooted in their places ; and when we have smarted under 



T90 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

our own troubles, and felt that all the day long we were 
scourged, and chastened every morning, we have been 
apt to say, " How can this be consistent with the right- 
eous government of God ?" We are reminded by the 
Psalmist that in a short time we shall pass by the place 
of the wicked, and lo, he shall not be; we shall diligently 
consider his place, and lo, it shall not be ; for he is soon 
cut down as the grass, and withereth as the green herb. 
The grass withereth, the flower thereof fadeth away, 
and even so shall pass away forever the glory of those 
who build upon the estate of time, and dig for lasting 
comfort in the mines of the earth. As the Eastern hus- 
bandman gathers up the green herb, and, despite its 
former beauty, casts it into the furnace, such must be 
your lot, O vainglorious sinners ! Thus will the judge 
command his angels, " Bind them in bundles to burn." 
Where now your merriment ? Where now your confi- 
dence ? Where now your pride and your pomp ? Where 
now your boastings and your loud-mouthed blasphe- 
mies ? They are silent for ever ; for, as thorns crackle 
under a pot, but are speedily consumed, and leave 
nothing except a handful of ashes, so shall it be with the 
wicked as to this life ; the fire of God's wrath shall de- 
vour them. 

It is more pleasing to recollect that the grass is used 
in Scripture as a picture of the elect of God. The wicked 
are comparable to the dragons of the wilderness, but 
God's own people shall spring up in their place, for it 
is written, " In the habitation of dragons, where each 
lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes." The elect are 
compared to grass, because of their number as they shall 
be in the latter days, and because of the rapidity of their 
growth. You remember the passage, " There shall be a 



IX THE HAY- FIELD. 1 99 

handful of corn in the earth upon the top of the moun- 
tains : the fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon : and 
they of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth." 
O that the long expected day might soon come, when 
God's people shall no longer be like a lone tuft of grass, 
but when they shall spring up as among the grass, as 
" willows by the watercourses." G-rass and willows are 
two of the fastest growing things we know of ; so shall 
a nation be born in a day, so shall crowds be converted 
at once ; for when the Spirit of God shall be mightily 
at work in the midst of the church, men shall fly unto 
Christ as doves fly to their dovecots, so that the aston- 
ished church shall exclaim, " These, where had they 
been ?" O that we might live to see the age of gold, 
the time which prophets have foretold, w r hen the com- 
pany of God's people shall be innumerable as the blades 
of grass in the meadows, and grace and truth shall 
flourish. 

How like the grass are God's people for this reason, 
that they are absolutely dependent upon the influences 
of heaven ! Our fields are parched if vernal showers 
and gentle dews are withheld, and what are our souls 
without the gracious visitations of the Spirit ? Some- 
times through severe trials our w T ounded hearts are like 
the mown grass, and then we have the promise, " He 
shall come down like rain upon the mown grass ; as 
showers that water the earth." Our sharp troubles 
have taken aw T ay our beauty, and lo, the Lord visits us, 
and we revive again. Thank God for that old saying, 
which is a gracious doctrine as well as a true proverb, 
11 Each blade of grass has its own drop of dew." God 
is pleased to give his own peculiar mercies to each one 
of his own servants. ' ' Thy blessing is upon thy people. ' ' 



200 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

Once again, grass is comparable to the food where- 
with the Lord supplies the necessities of his chosen ones. Take 
the twenty-third Psalm, and you have the metaphor 
worked out in the sweetest form of pastoral song : " He 
maketh me to lie down in green pastures : he leadeth 
me beside the still waters." Just as the sheep has 
nourishment according to its nature, and this nourish- 
ment is abundantly found for it by its shepherd, so that 
it not only feeds, but then lies down in the midst of 
the fodder, satiated with plenty, and perfectly content 
and at ease ; even so are the people of God when Jesus 
Christ leads them into the pastures of the covenant, 
and opens up to them the precious truths upon which 
their souls shall be fed. Beloved, have we not proved 
that promise true, " In this mountain shall the Lord of 
hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast 
of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of 
wines on the lees well refined"? My soul has some- 
times fed upon Christ till I have felt as if I could re- 
ceive no more, and then I have laid me down in the 
bounty of my God to take my rest, satisfied with favor, 
and full of the goodness of the Lord. 

Thus, you see, the grass itself is not without in- 
struction for those who will incline their ear. 

II. In the second place, God is seen in the 
growing of the grass. He is seen first as a worker, 
" He causetk the grass to grow." He is seen secondly 
as a caretaker, " He causeth the grass to grow for the 
cattle. ' ' 

i. First, as a worker, God is to be seen in every 
blade of grass, if we have but eyes to discern him. A 
blind world this, which always talks about " natural 



IN THE HAY-FIELD. 201 

laws," and " the effects of natural causes," but forgets 
that laws cannot operate of themselves, and that natural 
causes, so called, are not causes at all unless the First 
Cause shall set them in motion. The old Romans used to 
say, God thundered ; God rained. We say it thunders ; 
it rains. What " it "? All these expressions are sub- 
terfuges to escape from the thought of God. We com- 
monly say, " How wonderful are the works of nature /" 
What is "nature"? Do you know what nature is? I 
remember a lecturer in the street, an infidel, speaking 
about nature, and he was asked by a Christian man 
standing by whether he would tell him what nature was. 
He never gave a reply. The production of grass is not 
the result of natural law apart from the actual work of 
God ; mere law would be inoperative unless the great 
Master himself sent a thrill of power through the matter 
which is regulated by the law — unless, like the steam 
engine, which puts force into all the spinning-jennies 
and wheels of a cotton mill, God himself were the 
motive power to make every wheel revolve. I find rest 
on the grass as on a royal couch, now that I know that 
my God is there at work for his creatures. 

Having.asked you to see God as a worker, I want you 
to make use of this — therefore I bid you to see God in 
common things. He makes the grass to grow — grass is a 
common thing. You see it everywhere, yet God is in it. 
Dissect it and pull it to pieces ; the attributes of God 
are illustrated in every single flower of the field, and in 
every green leaf. In like manner see God in your 
common matters, your daily afflictions, your common 
joys, your every-day mercies. Do not say, " I must 
see a miracle before I see God." In truth everything 
teems with marvel. See God in the bread of your table 



202 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

and the water of your cup. It will be the happiest way 
of living if you can say in each providential circum- 
stance, " My Father has done all this." See God 
also in little things. The little things of life are the 
greatest troubles. A man will hear that his house is 
burned down more quietly than he will see an ill-cooked 
joint of meat upon his table, when he reckoned upon its 
being done to a turn. It is the little stone in the shoe 
which makes the pilgrim limp. To see God in little 
things, to believe that there is as much the presence of 
God in a limb falling from the elm as in the avalanche 
which crashes a village ; to believe that the guidance 
of every drop of spray, when the wave breaks on the 
rock, is as much under the hand of God, as the steerage 
of the mightiest planet in its course ; to see God in the 
little as well as in the great — all this is true wisdom. 

Think, too, of God working among solitary things; 
for grass does not merely grow where men take care of 
it, but up there on the side of the lone Alp, where no 
traveller has ever passed. Where only the eye of the 
wild bird has beheld their lonely verdure, moss and 
grass display their beauty ; for God's works are fair to 
other eyes than those of mortals. And you, solitary child 
of God, dwelling, unknown and obscure, in a remote 
hamlet ; you are not forgotten by the love of heaven. 
He maketh the grass to grow all alone, and shall 
he not make you flourish despite your loneliness ? 
He can bring forth your graces and educate you 
for the skies in solitude and neglect. The grass, 
you know, is a thing we tread upon, nobody thinks 
of its being crushed by the foot, and yet God makes 
it grow. Perhaps you are oppressed and down- 
trodden, but let not this depress your spirit, for God 



IN. THE HAV-FIELD. 203 

executeth righteousness for all those that are op- 
pressed ; he maketh the grass to grow, and he can make 
your heart to flourish under all the oppressions and 
afflictions of life, so that you shall still be happy and 
holy though all the world inarches over you ; still living 
in the immortal life which God himself bestows upon 
you, though hell itself set its heel upon you. Poor and 
needy one, unknown, unobserved, oppressed and dowm- 
trodden, God makes the grass to grow, and he will 
take care of ycu. 

2. But I said we should see in the text God also as 
a great caretaker. " He causeth the grass to grow for 
the cattle. " " Doth God take care for oxen ? Or saith 
he it altogether for our sakes ?" "Thou shalt not 
muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn, ' ' 
shows that God has a care for the beasts of the field ; but 
it shows much more than that, namely that he w r ould 
have those w T ho work for him feed as they work. God 
cares for the beasts, and makes grass to grow for them. 
Then, my soul, though sometimes thou hast said with 
David, " So foolish was I, and ignorant : I was as a 
beast before thee," yet God cares for thee. " He giveth 
to the beast his food, and to the young ravens which 
cry " — there you have an instance of his care for birds, 
and here we have his care for beasts ; and though you, 
my hearer, may seem to yourself to be as black and 
defiled as a raven, and as far from anything spiritually 
good as the beasts, yet take comfort from this text ; he 
gives grass to the cattle, and he will give grace to you, 
though you think yourself to be as a beast before him. 

Observe, he cares for these beasts who are helpless 
as to caring for themselves. The cattle could not plant 
the grass, nor cause it to grow. Though they can do 



204 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

nothing in the matter, yet he does it all for them ; he 
causeth the grass to grow. You who are as helpless as 
cattle to help yourselves, who can only stand and moan 
out your misery, but know not what to do, God can 
prevent you in his loving-kindness, and favor you in 
his tenderness. Let the bleatings of your prayer go up 
to heaven, let the moanings of your desires go up to 
him, and help shall come to }^ou though you cannot help 
yourselves. Beasts are dumb, speechless things, yet God 
makes the grass grow for them. Will he hear those that 
cannot speak, and will he not hear those who can ? 
Since our God views with kind consideration the cattle 
in the field, he will surely have compassion upon his 
own sons and daughters when they desire to seek 
his face. 

There is this also to be said, God not only cares for 
cattle, but the food which he provides for them is fit food 
— he causeth grass to grow for the cattle, just the sort 
of food which ruminants require. Even thus the Lord 
God provides fit sustenance for his people. Depend 
upon him by faith and wait upon him in prayer, and 
you shall have food convenient for you. You shall find 
in God's mercy just that which your nature demands, 
suitable supplies for peculiar wants. 

This " convenient " food the Lord takes care to re- 
serve for the cattle, for no one eats the cattle's food but 
the cattle. There is grass for them, and nobody else 
cares for it, and thus it is kept for them ; even so God 
has a special food for his own people ; " the secret of the 
Lord is with them that fear him, and he will show them 
his covenant." Though the grass be free to all who 
choose to eat it, yet no creature careth for it except the 
cattle for whom it is prepared ; and though the grace of 



IN THE HAY-FIELD. 205 

God be free to all men, yet no man careth for it except 
the elect of God, for whom he prepared it, and whom 
he prepares to receive it. There is as much reserve 
of the grass for the cattle as if there were walls around 
it ; and so, though the grace of God be free, and there be 
no bound set about it, yet it is as much reserved as if it 
were restricted. 

God is seen in the grass as the worker and the care- 
taker ; then let us see Ids hand in providence at all times. 
Let us see it, not only when we have abundance, but 
even when we have scant supplies ; for the grass is pre- 
paring for the cattle even in the depth of winter. And 
you, ye sons of sorrow, in your trials and troubles, are 
still cared for by God ; he will accomplish his own 
divinely gracious purposes in you ; only be still and see 
the salvation of God. Every winter's night has a direct 
connection with the joyous days of mowing and reaping, 
and each time of grief is linked to future joy. 

III. Our third head is most interesting. God's 

WORKING IN THE GRASS FOR THE CATTLE GIVES US ILLUS- 
TRATIONS CONCERNING GRACE. 

I will soliloquize, and say to myself as I read the 
text, " He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle. In 
this I perceive a satisfying provision for that form of 
creature. I am also a creature, but I am a nobler creat- 
ure than the cattle. I cannot imagine for a moment 
that God will provide all that the cattle need and not 
provide for me. But naturally I feel uneasy ; I cannot 
find in this world what I want— if I were to win all its 
riches I should still be discontented ; and when I have all 
that heart could wish of time's treasures, yet still my 
heart feels as if it were empty. There must be some- 



206 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

where or other something that will satisfy me as a man 
with an immortal soul. God altogether satisfies the ox ; 
he must therefore have something or other that would 
altogether satisfy me if I could get it. There is the 
grass, the cattle get it, and when they have eaten their 
share, they lie down and seem perfectly contented ; now, 
all I have ever found on earth has never satisfied me so 
that I could lie down and be satisfied ; there must, then, 
be something somewhere that would content me if I 
could get at it." Is not this good reasoning? I ask 
both the Christian and the unbeliever to go with me 
so far ; but then let us proceed another step : The 
cattle do get what they want— not only is the grass pro- 
vided, but they get it. Why should not I obtain what 
I want ? I find my soul hungering and thirsting after 
something more than I can see with my eyes or hear with 
my ears ; there must be something to satisfy my soul, 
why should I not find it ? The cattle pasture upon that 
which satisfies them ; why should not I obtain satisfac- 
tion too ? Then I begin to pray, " O Lord, satisfy my 
mouth with good things, and renew my youth." 

While I am praying I also meditate and think — 
God has provided for cattle that which is consonant to 
their nature ; they are nothing but flesh, and flesh is 
grass, there is therefore grass for their flesh. I also am 
flesh, but I am something else beside ; I am spirit, and 
to satisfy me I need spiritual meat. Where is it ? 
When I turn to God's word, I find there that though 
the grass withereth, the word of the Lord endureth for 
ever ; and the word which Jesus speaks unto us is spirit 
and life. " Oh ! then," I say, " here is spiritual food 
for my spiritual nature, I will rejoice therein." O may 
God help me to know what that spiritual meat is, and 



IN THE HAY-FIELD. 20"] 

enable me to lay hold upon it, for I perceive that though 
God provides the grass for the cattle, the cattle must eat 
it themselves. They are not fed if they refuse to eat. I 
must imitate the cattle, and receive that which God pro- 
vides for me ? What do I find provided in Scripture ? 
I am told that the Lord Jesus came into this world to 
surfer, and bleed, and die instead of me, and that if I 
trust in him I shall be saved ; and, being saved, the 
thoughts of his love will give solace and joy to me and 
be my strength. What have I to do but to feed on these 
truths ? I do not find the cattle bringing any prepara- 
tion to the pasture except hunger, but they enter it and 
partake of their portion. Even so must I by an act of 
faith live upon Jesus. Lord, give me grace to feed up- 
on Christ ; make me hungry and thirsty after him ; give 
me the faith by which I may be a receiver of him, that 
so I may be satisfied with favor, and full of the good- 
ness of the Lord. 

My text, though it looked small, grows as we medi- 
tate upon it. I want to introduce you to a few more 
illustrations of divine grace. Preventing grace may here 
be seen in a symbol. Grass grew before cattle were made. 
We find in the first chapter of Genesis that God pro- 
vided the grass before he created the cattle. And what 
a mercy that covenant supplies for God's people were 
prepared before they were born. God had given his 
Son Jesus Christ to be the Saviour of his chosen before 
Adam fell ; long before sin came into the world the 
everlasting mercy of God foresaw the ruin of sin, and 
provided a refuge for every elect soul. What a thought 
it is for me, that, before I hunger, God has prepared the 
manna ; before I thirst, God has caused the rock in the 
wilderness to send forth crystal streams to satisfy the 



208 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

thirst of my soul ! See what sovereign grace can do ! 
Before the cattle come to the pasture the grass has grown 
for them, and before I feel my need of divine mercy that 
mercy is provided for me. Then I perceive an illustration 
of free grace, for when the ox comes into the field he brings no 
money with him. So I, a poor needy sinner, having 
nothing, come and receive Christ without money and 
without price. The Lord maketh the grass to grow for 
the cattle, and so doth he provide grace for my needy 
soul, though I have now no money, no virtue, no ex- 
cellence of my own. 

And why is it, my friends, why is it that God gives 
the cattle the grass ? The reason is, because they belong 
to him. Here is a text to prove it. " The silver and the 
gold are mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills." 
God provides grass for his own cattle, and grace is pro- 
vided for God's people. Of every herd of cattle in the 
world, God could say, " They are mine." Long before 
the grazier puts his brand on the bullock God has set his 
creating mark upon it ; so, before the stamp of Adam's 
fall was set upon our brow, the stamp of electing love 
was set there : " In thy book all my members were writ- 
ten, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet 
there was none of them." 

God also feeds cattle because he has entered into a 
covenant with them to do so. " What ! a covenant with 
the cattle !" says somebody. Ay ! truly so, for when 
God spake to his servant Noah, in that day when all the 
cattle came out of the ark, we find him saying, " I es- 
tablish my covenant with you, and with your seed after 
you ; and with every living creature that is with you, 
of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth 
with you." Thus a covenant was made with the cattle, 



IN THE HAY-FIELD. 209 

and that covenant was that seed-time and harvest should 
not fail ; therefore the earth brings forth for them, and 
for them the Lord causeth the grass to grow. Does 
Jehovah keep his covenant with cattle, and will he not 
keep his covenant with his own beloved ? Ah ! it is 
because his chosen people are his covenanted ones in the 
person of the Lord Jesus, that he provides for them 
all things that they shall need in time and in eternity, 
and satisfies them out of the fulness of his everlast- 
ing love. 

Once, again, God feeds the cattle, and then the cattle 
praise him. We find David saying, in the hundred and 

forty-eighth Psalrn, " Praise the Lord ye beasts 

and all cattle." The Lord feeds his people to the 
end that their glory may sing praise unto hitn and not 
be silent. While other creatures give glory to God, let 
the redeemed of the Lord especially say so, whom he 
has redeemed out of the hand of the enemy. 

Nor even yet is our text exhausted. Turning one 
moment from the cattle, I want you to notice the grass. 
It is said of the grass, " He causeth the grass to grow ": 
here is a doctrinal lesson, for if grass does not grow 
without God's causing it to grow, how could grace arise 
in the human heart apart from divine operations ? 
Surely grace is a much more wonderful product of divine 
wisdom than the grass can be ! And if grass does not 
grow without a divine cause, depend upon it grace does 
not dwell in us without a divine implantation. If I have 
so much as one blade of grace growing within me, I 
must trace it all to God's divine will, and render to him 
all the glory. 

Again, if God thinks it worth his while to make 
grass, and take care of it, much more will he think it to 



210 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

his honor to cause his grace to grow in our hearts. If 
the great invisible Spirit, whose thoughts are high and 
lofty, condescends to look after that humble thing 
which grows by the hedge, surely he will condescend to 
watch over his own nature, which he calls " the incor- 
ruptible seed, which liveth and abideth for ever !" 
Mungo Park, in the deserts of Africa, was much com- 
forted when he took up a little piece of moss, and saw 
the wisdom and power of God in that lonely piece of 
verdant loveliness. So, when you see the fields ripe 
and ready for the mower, your hearts should leap for 
joy to see how God has produced the grass, caring for 
it all through the rigorous cold of winter, and the chill 
months of spring, until at last he sent the genial rain 
and sunshine, and brought the fields to their best con- 
dition. And so, my soul, though thou mayest endure 
many a frost of sorrow and a long winter of trial, yet 
the Lord will cause thee to grow in grace, and in the 
knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ ; to 
whom be glory for ever, Amen, 



THE JOY OF HARVEST. 

" They joy before thee according to the joy in harvest." — Isaiah 9 : 3. 

The other day I kept the feast with a company who 
shouted " Harvest Home." I was glad to see the rich 
and poor rejoicing together ; and when the cheerful 
meal was ended, I was glad to turn one of the tables 
into a pulpit, and in the large barn to preach the gospel 
of the ever-blessed God to an earnest audience. My 
heart was merry in harmony with the occasion, and I 
shall now keep in the same key, and talk to you a little 
upon the joy of harvest. Londoners forget that it is 
harvest time ; living in this great desert of dingy bricks 
we hardly know what a wheat-ear is like, except as we 
see it dry and white in the window of a corn dealer's 
shop ; yet let us all remember that there is such a season 
as harvest, when by God's goodness the fruits of the 
earth are gathered in. 

What is the joy of harvest which is here taken as 
the simile of the joy of the saints before God ? I am 
afraid that to the mere selfish order of spirits the joy of 
harvest is simply that of personal gratification at the in- 
crease of wealth. Sometimes the farmer only rejoices 
because he sees the reward of his toils, and is so much the 
richer man. I hope that with many there mingles the 
second cause of joy ; namely, gratitude to God that an 
abundant harvest will give bread to the poor, and remove 



212 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

complaining from our streets. There is a lawful joy in 
harvest, no doubt, to the man who is enriched by it ; 
for any man who works hard has a right to rejoice 
when at last he gains his desire. It would be well if 
men would always recollect that their last and greatest 
harvest will be to them according to their labor. He that 
soweth to the flesh will of theWiesh reap corruption, and 
only the man that soweth to the spirit will of the spirit 
reap life everlasting. Many a young man commences 
life by sowing what he calls his wild oats, which he had 
better never have sown, for they will bring him a 
terrible harvest. He expects that from these wild 
oats he will gather a harvest of true pleasure, but it 
cannot be ; the truest pleasures of life spring from the 
good seed of righteousness, and not from the hemlock 
of sin. As a man who sows thistles in his furrows must 
not expect to reap the golden wheatsheaf, so he who 
follows the ways of vice must not expect happiness. 
On the contrary, if he sows the wind he will reap the 
whirlwind. When a sinner feels the pangs of conscience 
he may well say, " This is what I sowed." When he 
shall at last receive the punishment of his evil deeds he 
will blame no one but himself ; he sowed tares and he 
must reap tares. On the other hand, the Christian man, 
though his salvation is not of works, but of grace, will 
have a gracious reward given to him by his Master. Sow- 
ing in tears, he shall reap in joy. Putting out his 
talents to interest, he shall enter into his Master's joy, 
and hear him say, ' Well done, good and faithful 
servant." The joy of harvest in part consists of the re- 
ward of labor ; may such be our joy in serving the Lord. 
The joy of harvest has another element in it, namely, 
that of gratitude to God for favors bestowed. We are singu- 



THE JOY OF HARVEST. 213 

larly dependent on God ; far more so than most of us 
imagine. When the children of Israel were in the wilder- 
ness they went forth every morning and gathered the 
manna. Our manna does not come to us every morn- 
ing, but it comes once a year. It is as much a heavenly 
supply as if it lay like a hoar-frost round about the 
camp. If we went out into the field and gathered food 
which dropped from the clouds we should think it a 
great miracle ; and is it not as great a marvel that our 
bread should come up from the earth as that it should 
come down from the sky ? The same God who bade 
the heavens drop with angels' food bids the dull earth 
in its due season yield corn for mankind. Therefore 
whenever we find that harvest comes, let us be grateful 
to God, and let us not suffer the season to pass over 
without psalms of thanksgiving. I believe I shall be 
correct if I say that there is never in the world, as a 
rule, more than sixteen months' supply of food ; that 
is to say, when the harvest is gathered in, there may be 
sixteen months' supply ; but at the time of harvest 
there is not usually enough wheat in the whole world to 
last the population more than four or five months ; so 
that if the harvest did not come we should be on the 
verge of famine. We live still from hand to mouth. 
Let us pause and bless God, and let the joy of harvest 
be the joy of gratitude. 

To the Christian it should be great joy, by means 
of the harvest, to receive an assurance of God 's faithfulness. 
The Lord has promised that seed-time and harvest, 
summer and winter, shall never cease ; and when you 
see the loaded wain carrying in the crop you may say to 
yourself, " God is true to his promise. Despite the 
dreary winter and the damp spring, autumn has come 



214 TALKS TO FARMERS.- 

with its golden grain." Depend upon it, that as the 
Lord keeps this promise he will keep all the rest. All 
his promises are yea and amen in Christ Jesus ; if he 
keeps his covenant to the earth, much more will he keep 
his covenant with his own people, whom he hath loved 
with an everlasting love. Go, Christian, to the mercy- 
seat with the promise on your lip and plead it. Be as- 
sured it is not a dead letter. Let not unbelief cause you 
to stammer when you mention the promise before the 
throne, but say it boldly — " Fulfil this word unto thy 
servant on which thou hast caused me to hope." 
Shame upon us that we so little believe our God. The 
world is full of proofs of his goodness. Every rising 
sun, every falling shower, every revolving season certifies 
his faithfulness. Wherefore do we doubt him ? If we 
never doubt him till we have cause for it we shall never 
know distrust again. Encouraged by the return of 
harvest, let us resolve in the strength of the Spirit of God 
that we will not waver, but will believe in the divine 
word and rejoice in it. 

Once more. To the Christian, in the joy of 
harvest there will always be the joy of expectatio7i. As 
there is a harvest to the husbandman for which he 
waiteth patiently, so there is a harvest for all faithful 
waiters who are looking for the coming and the appear- 
ing of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. The mature 
Christian, like the ripe ear of corn, hangs down his 
head with holy humility. When he was but green in 
the things of God he stood erect and was somewhat 
boastful, but now that he has become full of the bless- 
ing of the Lord he is humbled thereby, and bows him- 
self down ; he is waiting for the sickle, and he dreads it 
not, for no common reaper shall come to gather Christ's 



THE JOY OF HARVEST. 215 

people — he himself shall reap the harvest of the world. 
The Lord leaves the destroying angel to reap the vin- 
tage and to cast it into the wine-vat to be trodden with 
vengeance ; but as for the grain which he himself has 
sown, he will gather it himself with his own golden sickle. 
We are looking for this. We are growing among the 
tares, and sometimes we are half afraid lest the tares 
should be stronger than ourselves and choke the wheat ; 
but we shall be separated by-and-by, and when the corn 
is well winnowed and stored in the garner, we shall be 
there. It is this expectation which even now makes our 
hearts throb with joy. We have gone to the grave with 
precious sheaves that belonged to our Master, and when 
we were there we thought we could almost say, " Lord, 
if they sleep they shall do well. Let us die with them.'' 
Our joy of harvest is the hope of being at rest with all 
the saints, and for ever with the Lord. A view of these 
shadowy harvests upon earth should make us exceeding- 
ly glad, because they are the image and foreshadowing 
of the eternal harvest above. 

So much about the joy of harvest ; but I hasten 
onward. What joys are those which to the believer 
are as the joy of harvest ? It is a common notion 
that Christians are an unhappy people. It is true that 
we are tried, but it is false that we are miserable. With 
all their trials, believers have such a compensation in the 
love of Christ that they are still a blessed generation, 
and it may be said of them, " Happy art thou, O 
Israel." 

One of the first seasons in which we knew a joy 
equal to the joy of harvest — a season which has con- 
tinued with us ever since it commenced — was when we 



2l6 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

found the Saviour, and so obtained salvation. You recol- 
lect for yourselves, brethren and sisters, the time of the 
ploughing of your souls. My heart was fallow, and 
covered with weeds ; but on a certain day the great 
Husbandman came and began to plough my soul. Ten 
black horses were his team, and it was a sharp plough- 
share that he used, and the ploughers made deep 
furrows. The ten commandments were those black 
horses, and the justice of God, like a ploughshare, tore 
my spirit. I was condemned, undone, destroyed, lost, 
helpless, hopeless — I thought hell was before me. Then 
there came a cross ploughing, for when I went to hear 
the gospel it did not comfort me ; it made me wish I had 
a part in it, but I feared that such a boon was out of the 
question. The choicest promises of God frowned at 
me, and his threatenings thundered at me. I prayed, 
but found no answer of peace. It was long with me 
thus. After the ploughing came the sowing. God who 
ploughed the heart made it conscious that it needed the 
gospel, and the gospel seed was joyfully received. Do 
you recollect that auspicious day when at last you began 
to have some little hope ? It was very little — like a 
green blade that peeps up from the soil ; you scarce 
knew whether it was grass or corn, whether it was pre- 
sumption or true faith. It was a little hope, but it 
grew very pleasantly. Alas, a frost of doubt came ; 
snow of fear fell ; cold winds of despondency blew on 
you, and you said, "There can be no hope forme." 
But what a glorious day was that when at last the wheat 
which God had sown ripened, and you could say, 
" I have looked unto him and have been lightened ; I 
have laid my sins on Jesus, where God laid them of old, 
and they are taken away, and I am saved." I remember 



THE JOY OF HARVEST. 217 

well that day, and so no doubt do many of you. O 
sirs ! no husbandman ever shouted for joy as our heart 
shouted when a precious Christ was ours, and we could 
grasp him with full assurance of salvation in him. 
Many days have passed since then, but the joy of it is 
still fresh with us. And, blessed be God, it is not the 
joy of the first day only that we look back upon ; it is 
the joy of every day since then, more or less ; for our 
joy no man taketh from us ; still we are walking in 
Christ, even as we received him. Even now all our hope 
on him is stayed, all our help from him we bring ; and 
our joy and peace continue with us because they are 
based upon an immovable foundation. We rejoice in the 
Lord, yea, and we will rejoice. 

The joy Gf harvest generally shows itself by the 
farmer giving a feast to his friends and neighbors ; 
and, usually, those who find Christ express their joy by 
telling their friends and their neighbors how great 
things the Lord hath done for them. The grace of God 
is communicative. A man cannot be saved, and always 
hold his tongue about it ; as well look for dumb choirs 
in heaven as for a silent church on earth. If a man has 
been thirsty, and has come to the living stream, his 
first impulse will be to cry, " Ho ! every one that 
thirsteth !" Do you feel the joy of harvest, the joy 
that makes you wish that others should share with 
you ? If so, do not repress the impulse to proclaim your 
happiness. Speak of Christ to brothers and sisters, to 
friends and kinsfolk ; and, if the language be stam- 
mering, the message in itself is so important that the 
words in which you couch it will be a secondary con- 
sideration. Tell it, tell it out far and wide — that there 
is a Saviour, that you have found him, and that his 



2l8 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

blood can wash away transgression. Tell it everywhere ; 
and so the joy of harvest shall spread o'er land and sea, 
and God shall be glorified. 

We have another joy which is like the joy of har- 
vest. We frequently have it, too. It is the joy of 
answered prayer. I hope you know what it is to pray in 
faith. Some prayer is not worth the words used in pre- 
senting it, because there is no faith mixed with it. 
" With all thy sacrifices thou shalt offer salt," and the 
salt of faith is needful if we would have our sacrifices 
accepted. Those who are familiar with the mercy-seat 
know that prayer is a reality, and that the doctrine of 
divine answers to prayer is no fiction. Sometimes God 
will delay to answer for wise reasons ; then his children 
must cry, and cry, and cry again. They are in the con- 
dition of the husbandman who must wait for the pre- 
cious fruits of the earth ; and when at last the answer to 
prayer comes, they are then in the husbandman's posi- 
tion when he receives the harvest. Remember Hannah's 
wail and Hannah's word. In the bitterness of her soul 
she cried to God, and when her child was given to her 
she called it " Samuel," meaning, " Asked of God ;" 
for, said she, '' For this child I prayed." He was a 
dear child to her, because he was a child of prayer. 
Any mercy that comes to you in answer to prayer will 
be your Samuel mercy, your darling mercy. You will 
say of it, " For this mercy I prayed," and it will bring 
the joy of harvest to your spirit. If the Lord desires to 
surprise his children he has only to answer their pray- 
ers ; for the most of them would be astonished if an 
answer came to their petitions. I know how they speak 
about answers to prayer. They say, " Flow remark- 
able ! How wonderful !" as if it were anything re- 



THE JOY OF HARVEST. 210 

markable that God should be true, and that the Most 
High should keep his promise. Oh for more faith to 
rest upon his word ! and we should have more of these 
harvest joys. 

We have another joy of harvest in ourselves when 
we conquer a temptation. We know what it is to get under 
a cloud sometimes ; sin within us rises with a darken- 
ing force, or an external adversity beclouds us, and 
we miss the plain path we were accustomed to walk in. 
A child of God at such times will cry mightily for help ; 
for he is fearful of himself and fearful of his surround- 
ings. Some of God's people have been by the week and 
month together exposed to the double temptation, from 
without and from within, and have cried to God in 
bitter anguish. It has been a very hard struggle ; the 
sinful action has been painted in very fascinating colors, 
and the siren voice of temptation has almost enchanted 
them. But when at last they have got through the 
valley of the shadow of death without having slipped 
with their feet ; when, after all, they have not been de- 
stroyed by Apollyon, but have come forth again into 
the daylight, they feel a joy unspeakable, compared 
with which the joy of harvest is mere childish merri- 
ment. Those know deep joy who have felt bitter 
sorrow. As the man feels that he is the stronger for the 
conflict, as he feels that he has gathered experience and 
stronger faith from having passed through the trial, he 
lifts up his heart, and rejoices, not in himself, but be- 
fore his God, with the joy of harvest. Brethren beloved, 
you know what that means. 

Again, there is such a thing as the joy of harvest 
when we have been rendered useful. The master passion of 
every Christian is to be useful. There should be a 



220 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

burning zeal within us for the glory of God. When the 
man who desires to be useful has laid his plans and set 
about his work, he begins to look out for the results ; 
but perhaps it will be weeks, or years, before results 
will come. The worker is not to be blamed that there 
are no fruits as yet, but he is to be blamed if he is con- 
tent to be without fruits. A preacher may preach with- 
out conversions, and who shall blame him ? but if he be 
happy, who shall excuse him ? It is ours to break our 
own hearts if we cannot by God's grace break other 
men's hearts , if others will not weep for their sins it 
should be our constant habit to weep for them. When 
the heart becomes earnest, warm, zealous, God usually 
gives a measure of success, some hftyfold, some a hun- 
dredfold. When the success comes it is the joy of 
harvest indeed. I cannot help being egotistical enough 
to mention the joy I felt when first I heard that a soul 
had found peace through my youthful ministry. I had 
been preaching in a village some few Sabbaths with an 
increasing congregation, but I had not heard of a con- 
version, and I thought, " Perhaps I am not called of 
God. He does not mean me to preach, for if he did he 
would give me spiritual children." One Sabbath my 
good deacon said, " Don't be discouraged. A poor 
woman was savingly impressed last Sabbath." How 
long do you suppose it was before I saw that woman ? 
It was just as long as it took me to reach her cottage. 
I was eager to hear from her own lips whether it was a 
work of God's grace or not. I always looked upon her 
with interest, though only a poor laborer's wife, till she 
was taken away to heaven, after having lived a holy 
life. Many since then have I rejoiced over in the Lord, 
but that first seal to my ministry was peculiarly dear to 



the Joy of harvest. 221 

me. It gave me a sip of the joy of harvest. If some- 
body had left me a fortune it would not have caused me 
one-hundredth part of the delight I had in discovering 
that a soul had been led to the Saviour. I am sure 
Christian people who have not this joy have missed one 
of the choicest delights that a believer can know this 
side heaven. In fact, when I see souls saved, I do 
not envy Gabriel his throne nor the angels their harps. 
It shall be our heaven to be out of heaven for a season if 
we can but bring others to know the Saviour and so add 
fresh jewels to the Redeemer's crown. 

I will mention another delight which is as the joy 
of harvest, and that is fellowship with the Lord Jesus 
Christ. This is not so much a matter for speech as for 
experience and delight. If we try to speak of what 
communion with Christ is, we fail. Solomon, the wis- 
est of men, when inspired to write of the fellowship of 
the church with her Lord, was compelled to write in 
allegories and emblems, and though to the spiritual 
mind the Book of Canticles is always delightful, yet to 
the carnal mind it seems a mere love song. The natu- 
ral man discerneth not the things that be of God, for 
they are spiritual, and can only be spiritually discerned. 
But, oh, the bliss of knowing that Christ is yours, and 
of entering into nearness of communion with him. To 
thrust your hand into his side, and your finger into the 
print of the nails ; these be not everyday joys ; but 
when such near and dear communings come to us on 
our highdays and holydays, they make our souls like 
the chariots of Ammi-nadib, or, if you will, they cause 
us to tread the world beneath our feet and all that earth 
calls good or great. Our condition matters nothing to 
us if Christ be with us — he is our God, our comfort, 



222 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

and our all, and we rejoice before him as with the joy 
of harvest. 

I have no time to enlarge further ; for I want to 
close with one other practical word. Many of us are 
anxiously desiring a harvest which would bring to us an 
intense delight. Of late, divers persons have communi- 
cated to me in many ways the strong emotion they feel 
of pity for the souls of men. Others of us have felt a 
mysterious impulse to pray more than we did, and to be 
more anxious than ever we were that Christ would save 
poor perishing sinners. We shall not be satisfied until 
there is a thorough awakening in this land. We did 
not raise the feeling in our own minds, and we do not 
desire to repress it. We do not believe it can be re- 
pressed ; but others will feel the same heavenly affec- 
tion, and will sigh and cry to God day and night until 
the blessing comes. This is the sowing, this is the 
ploughing, this is the harrowing — may it go on to har- 
vesting. I long to hear my brethren and sisters uni- 
versally saying, " We are full of anguish, we are in 
agony till souls be saved." The cry of Rachel, " Give 
me children, or I die," is the cry of your minister this 
day, and the longing of thousands more besides. As 
that desire grows in intensity a revival is approaching. 
We must have spiritual children born to Christ, or our 
hearts will break for the longing that we have for their 
salvation. Oh for more of these longings, }^earnings, 
cravings, travailings ! If we plead till the harvest of 
revival comes we shall partake in the joy of it. 

Who will have the most joy ? Those who have been 
the most concerned about it. You who do not pray in 
private, nor come out to prayer-meetings, will not 



THE JOY OF HARVEST. 223 

have the joy when the blessing comes, and the church is 
increased. You had no share in the sowing, therefore 
you will have little share in the reaping. You who 
never speak to others about their souls, who take no 
share in Sunday-school or mission work, but simply eat 
the fat and drink the sweet — you shall have none of the 
joy of harvest, for you do not put your hands to the 
work of the Lord. And who would wish that idlers 
should be happy ? Rather in our zeal and jealousy we 
feel inclined to say, " Curse ye Meroz, curse ye bitterly 
the inhabitants thereof ; because they came not up to 
the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against 
the mighty." If you come to the help of the Lord by 
his own divine Spirit, you shall share the joy of harvest. 
Perhaps none will have more of that joy than those who 
shall have the privilege of seeing their own dear ones 
brought to God. Some of you have children who are a 
trial to you whenever you think of them ; let them be 
such a trial to you that they drive you to incessant 
prayer for them, and, if the blessing comes, why should 
it not drop on them ? If a revival comes, why should 
not your daughter yet be converted, and that wild boy 
of yours be brought in, or even your gray-headed 
father, who has been sceptical and unbelieving — why 
should not the grace of God come to him ? And, oh, 
what a joy of harvest you will have then ? What bliss 
will thrill through your spirit when you see those who 
are united to you in ties of blood united to Christ your 
Lord ! Pray much for them with earnest faith, and you 
shall yet have the joy of harvest in your own house, a 
shout of harvest home in your own family. 

Possibly, my hearer, you have not much to do with 
such joy, for you are yourself unsaved. Yet it is a 



224 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

grand thing for an unconverted person to be under a 
ministry that God blesses, and with a people that pray 
for conversions. It is a happy thing for you, young man, 
to have a Christian mother. It is a great boon for you, 
O unconverted woman, that you have a godly sister. 
These make us hopeful for you. While your relations 
are prayerful, we are hopeful for you. May the Lord 
Jesus be yours yet. But, oh ! if you remain un- 
believing, however rich a blessing comes to others, it 
will leave you none the better for it. " If ye be willing 
and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land ;" but 
there are some who may cry in piteous accents, '"' The 
harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not 
saved." It has been remarked that those who pass 
through a season of revival and remain unconverted are 
more hardened and unimpressed than before. I believe 
it to be so, and I therefore pray the divine Spirit to come 
with such energy that none of you may escape his 
power. May you be led to pray, 

" Pass me not, O mighty Spirit ! 

Thou canst make the blind to see ; 
Witnesser of Jesus' merit, 

Speak the word of power to me, 

Even me. 

" Have I long in sin been sleeping, 

Long been slighting, grieving thee ? 
Has the world my heart been keeping ? 
Oh forgive and rescue me, 

Even me." 

Oh for earnest, importunate prayer from all believers 
throughout the world ! If our churches could be stirred 
up to incessant, vehement crying to God, so as to give 
him no rest till he make Zion a praise in the earth, we 
might expect to see God's kingdom come and the power 



THE JOY OF HARVEST. 225 

of Satan fall. As many of you as love Christ, I charge 
you by his dear name to be much in prayer ; as many 
of you as love the Church of God, and desire her pros- 
perity, I beseech you keep not back in this time of sup- 
plication. The Lord grant that you may be led to 
plead till the harvest joy is granted. Do you remember 
one Sabbath my saying, " The Lord deal so with you as 
you deal with his work during this next month." I 
feel as if it will be so with many of you — that the Lord 
will deal so with you as you shall deal with his Church. 
If you scatter little you shall have little, if you pray lit- 
tle you shall have little favor ; but if you have zeal and 
faith, and plead much and work much for the Lord, 
good measure, pressed down and running over, shall 
the Lord return into your own bosoms. If you water 
others with drops you shall receive drops in return ; 
but if the Spirit helps you to pour out rivers of living 
water from your own soul, then floods of heavenly grace 
shall flow into your spirit. God bring in the uncon- 
verted, and lead them to a simple trust in Jesus ; then 
shall they also know the joy of harvest. We ask it for 
his name's sake. Amen. 



SPIRITUAL GLEANING. 

" Let her glean even among the sheaves, and reproach her not." — RUTH 2:15. 

Country friends need no explanation of what is 
meant by gleaning. I hope the custom will never be 
banished from the land, but that the poor will always 
be allowed their little share of the harvest. I am afraid 
that many who see gleaning every year in the fields of 
their own parish are not yet wise enough to understand 
the heavenly art of spiritual gleaning. That is the sub- 
ject which I have chosen on this occasion, and my text 
is taken from the charming story of Ruth, which is 
known to everyone of you. T shall use the story as set- 
ting forth our own case, in a homely but instructive 
way. In the first place, we shall observe that there is a 
great Husbandman j it was Boaz in Ruth's case, it is our 
heavenly Father who is the Husbandman in our case. 
Secondly, we shall notice a humble gleaner j the gleaner 
was Ruth in this instance^ but she may be looked upon 
as the representative of every believer. And, in the 
third place, here is a gracious permission given to Ruth : 
" Let her glean even among the sheaves, and reproach 
her not," and the same permission is spiritually given 
to us. 

I. In the first place, the God of the whole earth is 
a great Husbandman. This is true in natural things. 



SPIRITUAL GLEANING. 227 

As a matter of fact all farm operations are carried on by 
his power and prudence. Man may plough the soil, and 
sow the seed ; but as Jesus said, " My Father is the hus- 
bandman." He appoints the clouds and allots the sun- 
shine ; he directs the winds and distributes the dew and 
the rain ; he also gives the frost and the heat, and so 
by various processes of nature he brings forth food for 
man and beast. All the farming, however, which God 
does, is for the benefit of others, and never for himself. 
He has no need of any of our works of husbandry. If 
he were hungry, he would not tell us. " The cattle on 
a thousand hills," says he, "are mine." The purest 
kindness and benevolence are those which dwell in the 
heart of God. Though all things are God's, his works 
in creation and in providence are not for himself, but 
for his creatures. This should greatly encourage us in 
trusting to him. 

In spiritual matters God is a great husbandman ; 
and there, too, all his works are done for his children, 
that they may be fed upon the finest of the wheat. Per- 
mit me to speak of the wide gospel fields which our 
heavenly Father farms for the good of his children. 
There is a great variety of these fields, and they are all 
fruitful ; for " the fountain of Jacob shall be upon a 
land of corn and wine ; also his heavens shall drop 
down dew." Deut. 33 : 28. Every field which our 
heavenly Father tills yields a plentiful harvest, for there 
are no failures or famines with him. 

1. One part of his farm is called Doctrine field. 
What full sheaves of finest wheat are to be found there ! 
He who is permitted to glean in it will gather bread 
enough and to spare, for the land brings forth by hand- 
fuls. Look at that goodly sheaf of election ; full, indeed, 



2 28 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

of heavy ears of corn, such as Pharaoh saw in his first 
dream — ears full and strong. There is the great sheaf 
of final perseverance, where each ear is a promise that 
the work which God has begun he will assuredly com- 
plete. If we have not faith enough to partake of either 
of these sheaves, we may glean around the choice 
sheaves of redemption by the blood of Christ. Many a 
poor soul who could not feed on electing love, nor real- 
ize his perseverance in Christ, can yet feed on the 
atonement and rejoice in the sublime doctrine of substi- 
tution. Many and rich are the sheaves which stand thick 
together in Doctrine field ; these, when threshed by 
meditation and ground in the mill of thought, furnish 
royal food for the Lord's family. 

I wonder why it is that some of our Master's stew- 
a T ds are so prone to lock the gate of this field, as if they 
thought it dangerous ground. For my part, I wish my 
people not only to glean here, but to carry home the 
sheaves by the wagon-load, for they cannot be too well 
fed when truth is the food. Are my fellow-laborers 
afraid that Jeshurun will wax fat and kick, if he has too 
much food ? I fear there is more likelihood of his dying 
of starvation if the bread of sound doctrine is withheld. 
If we have a love to the precepts and warnings of the 
word, we need not be afraid of the doctrines ; on the 
contrary, wc should search them out and feed upon them 
with joy. The doctrines of distinguishing grace are to 
be set forth in due proportions to the rest of the word, 
and those are poor pulpits from which these grand 
truths are excluded. We must not keep the Lord's 
people out of this field. I say, swing the gate open, 
and come in, all of you who are children of God ! I am 
sure that in my Master's field nothing grows which will 



SPIRITUAL GLEANING. 229 

harm you. Gospel doctrine is always safe doctrine. 
You may feast upon it till you are full, and no harm will 
come of it. Be afraid of no revealed truth. Be afraid 
of spiritual ignorance, but not of holy knowledge. 
Grow in grace and in the knowledge of your Lord and 
Saviour Jesus Christ. Everything taught in the word 
of God is meant to be the subject of a Christian's study, 
therefore neglect nothing. Visit the doctrine field 
daily, and glean in it with the utmost diligence. 

2. The great Husbandman has another field called 
Promise field ; of that i shall not need to speak, for I 
hope you often enter it and glean from it. Just let us 
take an ear or two out of one of the sheaves, and show 
them to you that you may be induced to stay there the 
live-long da) 7 , and carry home a rich load at night. 
Here is an ear : " The mountains shall depart, and the 
hills be removed ; but my kindness shall not depart from 
thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be re- 
moved." Here is another: "When thou passest 
through the waters, I will be with thee ; and through 
the rivers, they shall not overflow thee ; when thou 
walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned ; 
neither shall the flame kindle upon thee." Here is 
another ; it has a short stalk, but a heavy ear : " My 
strength is sufficient for thee." Another is long in the 
straw, but very rich in corn : " Let not your heart be 
troubled : ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my 
Father's house are many mansions : if it were not so I 
would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you ; 
and if I go and prepare a place for you I will come 
again, and receive you unto myself ; that where I am, 
there ye may be also." What a word is that ! — "I will 
come again." Yes, beloved, we can say of the Promise 



230 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

field what cannot be said of a single acre in all Eng- 
land ; namely, that it is so rich a field that it could cot 
be richer, and that it has so many ears of corn in it that 
you could not insert another. As the poet sings : 

" What more can he say, than to you he hath said, — 
You who unto Jesus for refuge have fled ? " 

Glean in that field, O ye poor and needy ones, and 
never think that you are intruding. The whole field is 
your own, every ear of it ; you may draw out from the 
sheaves themselves, and the more you take the more 
you may. 

3. Then there is Ordinance field j a great deal of 
good wheat grows in this field. The field of Baptism 
has been exceedingly fruitful to some of us, for it has 
set forth to us our death, burial, and resurrection in 
Christ, and thus we have been cheered and instructed. 
It has been good for us to declare ourselves on the 
Lord's side, and we have found that in keeping our 
Lord's commandments there is great reward. But I 
will not detain you long in this field, for some of our 
friends think it has a damp soil : I wish them more light 
and more grace. However, we will pass on to the field 
of the Supper, where grows the very best of our Lord's 
corn. What rich things have we fed upon in this choice 
spot ! Have we not there tasted the sweetest and most 
sustaining of all spiritual food ? In all the estate no field 
is to be found to rival this centre and crown of all the 
domain ; this is the King's Acre. Gospel gleaner, abide 
in that field ; glean in it on the first day of every week, 
and expect to see your Lord there ; for it is written, 
" He was known of them in the breaking of bread." 

4. The heavenly Husbandman has one field upon 



SPIRITUAL GLEANING. 23 1 

a hill, which equals the best of the others, even if it 
does not excel them. You cannot really and truly go 
into any of the other fields unless you pass into this ; 
for the road to the other fields lies through this hill 
farm ; it is called Fellowship and Communion with Christ. 
This is the field for the Lord's choicest ones to glean in. 
Some of you have only run through it, you have not 
stopped long enough in it ; but he who knows how to 
stay here, yea, to live here, shall spend his hours most 
profitably and pleasantly. It is only in proportion as 
we hold fellowship with Christ, and communion with 
him, that either ordinances, or doctrines, or promises 
can profit us. All other things are dry and barren un- 
less we are enjoying the love of Christ, unless we bear 
his likeness, unless we dwell continually with him, and 
rejoice in his love. I am sorry to say that few Chris- 
tians think much of this field ; it is enough for them to 
be sound in doctrine, and tolerably correct in practice ; 
they care far less than they should about intimate in- 
ter course with Christ Jesus, their Lord, by the Holy 
Ghost. I am sure that if we gleaned in this field we 
should not have half so many naughty tempers, nor a 
tenth as much pride, nor a hundredth part so much 
sloth. This is a field hedged and sheltered, and in it 
you will find better food than that which angels feed 
upon ; yea, you will find Jesus himself as the bread 
which came down from heaven. Blessed, blessed field, 
may we visit it every day. The Master leaves the gate 
wide open for every believer ; let us enter in and 
gather the golden ears till we can carry no more. Thus 
we have seen the great Husbandman in his fields ; let 
us rejoice that we have such a great Husbandman near, 
and such fields to glean in. 



2$2 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

II. And now, in the second place, we have a 
humble gleaner. Ruth was a gleaner, and may serve 
as an illustration of what every believer should be in 
the fields of God. 

i. The believer is a favored gleaner, for he may take 
home a whole sheaf if he likes ; he may bear away all that 
he can possibly carry, for all things are freely given him 
of the Lord. 1 use the figure of a gleaner because I be- 
lieve that few Christians ever go much beyond it, and 
yet they are free to do so if they are able. Some may 
say, Why does not the believer reap all the field, and 
take all the corn home with him ? I answer that he is 
welcome to do so if he can ; for no good thing will the 
Lord withhold from them that walk uprightly. If your 
faith is like a great wagon, and you can carry the 
whole field of corn, you have full permission to take it. 
Alas, our faith is so little that we rather glean than 
reap ; we are stiaitened in ourselves, not in our God. 
May you all outgrow the metaphor, and come home, 
bringing your sheaves with you. 

2. Again, we may remark, that the gleaner in her 
business has to eridure much toil and fatigue. She rises 
early in the morning, and she trudges off to a field ; if 
that be closed, she hastens to another ; and if that be 
shut up, or gleaned already, she hurries farther still ; 
and all day long, while the sun is shining upon her, she 
seldom sits down to refresh herself, but still she goes 
on, stoop, stoop, stoop, gathering the ears one by one. 
She returns not to her home till nightfall ; for she de- 
sires, if the field is good, to do much business that day, 
and she will not go home until she is loaded down. Be- 
loved, so let each one of us do when we seek spiritual 
food. Let us not be afraid of a little fatigue in the 



SPIRITUAL GLEANING. 233 

Master's fields ; if the gleaning is good, we must not 
soon weary in gathering the precious spoil, for the 
gains will richly reward our pains. I know a friend 
who walks five miles every Sunday to hear the gospel, 
and has the same distance to return. Another thinks 
little of a ten miles' journey ; and these are wise, for to 
hear the pure word of God no labor is extravagant. To 
stand in the aisle till ready to drop, listening all the 
while with strained attention, is a toil which meets a 
full reward if the gospel be heard and the Spirit of God 
bless it to the soul. A gleaner does not expect that the 
ears will come to her of themselves ; she knows that 
gleaning is hard work. We must not expect to find the 
best field next to our own house, w T e may have to jour- 
ney to the far end of the parish, but what of that ? 
Gleaners must not be choosers, and w T here the Lord 
sends the gospel, there he calls us to be present. 

3. We remark, next, that every ear the gleaner gets she 
has to stoop for. Why is it that proud people seldom 
profit under the word ? Why is it that certain " intel- 
lectual " folk cannot get any good out of our soundest 
ministers ? Why, because they must needs have the 
corn lifted up for them ; and if the wheat is held so high 
over their heads that they can hardly see it, they are 
pleased, and cry, " Here is something wonderful." 
They admire the extraordinary ability of the man who 
can hold up the truth so high that nobody can reach it ; 
bat truly that is a sorry feat. The preacher's business 
is to place truth within the reach of all, children as 
well as adults ; he is to let fall handfuls on purpose for 
poor gleaners, and these will never mind stooping to 
collect the ears. If we preach to the educated people 
only, the wise ones can understand, but the illiterate 



234 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

cannot ; but when we preach in all simplicity to the 
poor, other classes can understand it if they like, and if 
they do not like, they had better go somewhere else. 
Those who cannot stoop to pick up plain truth had 
better give up gleaning. For my part, I would be 
taught by a child if I could thereby know and under- 
stand the gospel better : the gleaning in our Lord's field 
is so rich that it is worth the hardest labor to be able to 
carry home a portion of it. Hungry souls know this, 
and are not to be hindered in seeking their heavenly 
food. We will go down on our knees in prayer, and 
stoop by self-humiliation, and confession of ignorance, 
and so gather with the hand of faith the daily bread of 
our hungering souls. 

4. Note, in the next place, that what a gleaner gets 
she wins ear by ear j occasionally she picks up a handful 
at once, but as a rule it is straw by straw. In the case 
of Ruth, handfuls were let fall on purpose for her.; bat 
she was highly favored. The gleaner stoops, and gets 
one ear, and then she stoops again for another. Now, 
beloved, where there are handfuls to be got at once, 
there is the place to go and glean ; but if you cannot 
meet with such abundance, be glad to gather ear by 
ear. I have heard of certain persons who have been in 
the habit of hearing a favorite minister, and when they 
go to another place, they say, " I cannot hear anybody 
after my own minister ; I shall stay at home and read 
a sermon." Please remember the passage, " Not for- 
saking the assembling of yourselves together, as the 
manner of some is." Let me also entreat you not to 
be so foolishly partial as to deprive your soul of its food. 
If you cannot get a handful at one stoop, do not refuse 
to gather an ear at a time. If you are not content to 



SPIRITUAL CLEANING. 235 

learn here a little and there a little, you will soon be 
half starved, and then you will be glad to get back 
again to the despised minister and pick up what his field 
will yield you. That is a sorry ministry which yields 
nothing. Go and glean where the Lord has opened the 
gate for you. Why the text alone is worth the jour- 
ney ; do not miss it. 

5. Note, next, that what the gleaner picks up she keeps 
in her hand ; she does not drop the corn as fast as she 
gathers it. There is a good thought at the beginning 
of the sermon, but the hearers are so eager to hear 
another, that the first one slips away. Toward the 
end of the sermon a large handful falls in their way, 
and they forget all that went before in their eagerness 
to retain this last and richest portion. The sermon is 
over, and, alas, it is nearly all gone from the memory, 
for many are about as wise as a gleaner would be if she 
should pick up one ear, and drop it ; pick up another, 
and drop it, and so on all day. The net result of such 
a day's work in a stubble is a bad backache ; and I 
fear that all our hearers will get by their hearing will 
be a headache. Be attentive, but be retentive too. 
Gather the grain and tie it up in bundles for carrying 
away with you, and mind you do not lose it on the road 
home. Many a person when he has got a fair hold of 
the sermon, loses it on the way to his house by idle talk 
with vain companions. I have heard of a Christian 
man who was seen hurrying home one Sunday with all 
his might. A friend asked him why he was in such 
haste. " Oh ! " said he, " two or three Sundays ago, 
our minister gave us a most blessed discourse, and I 
greatly enjoyed it ; but when I got outside, there were 
two deacons discussing, and one pulled the sermon one 



236 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

way, and the other the other, till they pulled it all to 
pieces, and I lost all the savor of it." Those must have 
been very bad deacons ; let us not imitate them ; and if 
we know of any who are of their school, let us walk 
home alone in dogged silence sooner than lose all our 
gleanings by their controversies. After a good sermon 
go home with your ears and your mouth shut. Act 
like the miser, who not only gets all he can, but keeps 
all he can. Do not lose by trifling talk that which may 
make you rich to all eternity. 

6. Then, again, the gleaner takes the wheat home and 
threshes it. It is a wise thing to thresh a sermon, who- 
ever may have been the preacher, for it is certain that 
there is a portion of straw and chaff about it. Many 
thresh the preacher by finding needless fault ; but that 
is not half so good as threshing the sermon to get out 
of it the pure truth. Take a sermon, beloved, when 
you get one which is worth having, and lay it down on 
the floor of meditation, and beat it out with the flail of 
prayer, and you will get bread-corn from it. This thresh- 
ing by prayer and meditation must never be neglected. 
If a gleaner should stow away her corn in her room, and 
leave it there, the mice would get at it ; but she would 
have no food from it if she did not thresh out the grain. 
Some get a sermon, and carry it home, and allow Satan 
and sin, and the world, to eat it all up, and it becomes 
unfruitful and worthless to them. But he who knows 
how to flail a sermon well, so as to clear out all the 
wheat from the straw, he is it that makes a good hearer 
and feeds his soul on what he hears. 

7. And then, in the last place, the good woman, 
after threshing the corn, no doubt winnowed it. Ruth 
did all this in the field ; but you can scarcely do so. 



SPIRITUAL GLEANING. 237 

You must do some of the work at home. And observe, 
she did not take the chaff home ; she left that behind 
her in the field. It is a prudent thing to winnow all 
the discourses you hear so as to separate the precious 
from the vile ; but pray do not fall into the silljf habit 
of taking home all the chaff, and leaving the corn be- 
hind. I think I hear you say, " I shall recollect that 
queer expression ; I shall make an anecdote out of that 
odd remark." Listen, then, for I have a word for you 
— if you hear a man retail nothing about a minister ex- 
cept his oddities, just stop him, and say, " We have all 
our faults, and perhaps those who are most ready to 
speak of those of others are not quite perfect them- 
selves : cannot you tell us what the preacher said that 
w r as worth hearing?" In many cases the virtual 
answer will be, " Oh, I don't recollect that." They 
have sifted the corn, thrown away the good grain, and 
brought home the chaff. Ought they not to be put in 
an asylum ? Follow the opposite rule ; drop the straw, 
and retain the good corn. Separate between the pre- 
cious and the vile, and let the worthless material go 
where it may ; you have no use for it, and the sooner 
you are rid of it the better. Judge with care ; reject 
false teaching with decision, and retain true doctrine 
with earnestness, so shall you practise the enriching art 
of heavenly gleaning. May the Lord teach us wisdom, 
so that we may become " rich to all the intents of 
bliss ;" so shall our mouth be satisfied with good 
things, and our youth shall be renewed like the eagle's. 

III. And now, in the last place, here is a gracious 
permission given : " Let her glean among the sheaves, 
and reproach her not." Ruth had no right to go among 



238 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

the sheaves till Boaz gave her permission by saying, 
" Let her do it." For her to be allowed to go among 
the sheaves, in that part of the field where the wheat 
was newly cut, and none of it carted, was a great favor : 
but Boaz whispered that handfuls were to be dropped 
on purpose for her, and that was a greater favor still. 
Boaz had a secret love for the maiden, and even so, 
beloved, it is because of our Lord's eternal love to us 
that he allows us to enter his best fields and glean 
among the sheaves. His grace permits us to lay hold 
upon doctrinal blessings, promise blessings, and ex- 
perience blessings : the Lord has a favor toward us, 
and hence these singular kindnesses. We have no right 
to any heavenly blessings of ourselves ; our portion, ls 
due to free and sovereign grace. 

I tell you the reasons that moved Boaz's heart to 
let Ruth go among the sheaves. The master motive 
was because he loved her. He would have her go there, 
because he had conceived an affection for her, which he 
afterward displayed in grander ways. So the Lord lets 
his people come and glean among the sheaves, because 
he loves them. Didst thou have a soul-enriching season 
among the sheaves the other Sabbath ? Didst thou 
carry home thy sack, filled like those of Joseph's 
brothers, when they returned from Egypt? Didst thou 
have an abundance ? Wast thou satisfied ? Mark ; 
that was thy Master's goodness. It was because he 
loved thee. Look, I beseech thee, on all thy spiritual 
enjoyments as proof of his eternal love. Look on all 
heavenly blessings as being tokens of heavenly grace. 
It will make thy corn grind all the better, and eat all 
the sweeter, if thou wilt reflect that eternal love gave it 
thee. Thy sweet seasons, thy high enjoyments, thy un- 



SPIRITUAL GLEANING. 239 

speakable ravishments of spirit are all proofs of divine 
affection, therefore be doubly glad of them. 

There was another reason why Boaz allows Ruth to 
glean among the sheaves ; it was because he was her 
relative. This is why our Lord gives us choice favors 
at times, and takes us into his banqueting-house in so 
gracious a manner. He is our next of kin, bone of our 
bone, and flesh of our flesh. Our Redeemer, our kins- 
man, is the Lord Jesus, and he will never be strange to^ 
his own flesh. It is a high and charming mystery that 
our Lord Jesus is the Husband of his church ; and sure 
he may well let his spouse glean among the sheaves ; 
for all that he possesses is hers already. Her interests 
and his interests are one, and so he may well say, 
" Beloved, take all thou pleasest ; I am none the poorer 
because thou dost partake of my fulness, for thou art 
mine. Thou art my partner, and my choice, and all 
that I have is thine." What, then, shall I say to you 
who are my Lord's beloved ? How shall I speak with a 
tenderness and generosity equal to his desires, for he 
would have me speak right lovingly in his name. En- 
rich yourselves out of that which is your Lord's. Go 
a spiritual gleaning as often as ever you can. Never 
lose an opportunity of picking up a golden blessing. 
Glean at the merc)'-seat ; glean in private meditation ; 
glean in reading pious books ; glean in associating with... 
godly men ; glean everywhere ; and if you can get only 
a little handful it will be better than none. You who 
are so much in business, and so much penned up by 
cares ; if you can only spend five minutes in the Lord's 
field gleaning a little, be sure to do so. If you cannot 
bear away a sheaf, carry an ear ; and if you cannot 
find an ear, pick up even a grain of wheat. Take care 



240 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

to get a little, if you cannot get much : but gather as 
much as ever you can. 

Just one other remark. O child of God, never be 
afraid to glean. Have faith in God, and take the 
promises home to yourself. Jesus will rejoice to see 
you making free with his good things. His voice is 
" Eat abundantly ; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O be- 
loved." Therefore, if you find a rich promise, live 
upon it. Draw the honey out of the comb of Scripture, 
and live on its sweetness. If you meet with a most ex- 
traordinary sheaf, carry it away rejoicing. You cannot 
believe too much concerning your Lord ; let not Satan 
cheat you into contentment with a meagre portion of 
grace when all the granaries of heaven are open to 
you. Glean on with humble industry and hopeful con- 
fidence, and know that he who owns both fields and 
sheaves is looking upon you with eyes of love, and will 
one day espouse you to himself in glory everlasting. 
Happy gleaner who finds eternal love and eternal life 
in the fields in which he gleans ! 



MEAL-TIME IN THE CORNFIELDS. 

" And Boaz said unto her, At meal-time come thou hither, and eat of the 
bread, and dip thy morsel in the vinegar. And she sat beside the reapers : 
and he reached her parched corn, and she did eat, and was sufficed, and left." 
— Ruth 2 : 14. 

We are going to the cornfields, not so much to 
glean, as to rest with the reapers and gleaners, when 
under some wide-spreading oak they sit down to take 
refreshment. We hope some timid gleaner will accept 
our invitation to come and eat with us, and will have 
confidence enough to dip her morsel in the vinegar. 
May all of us have courage to feast to the full on our 
own account, and kindness enough to carry home a 
portion to our needy friends at home. 

I. Our first point of remark is this — that God's 

REAPERS HAVE THEIR MEAL-TIMES. 

Those who work for God will find him a good 
master. He cares for oxen, and he has commanded 
Israel, " Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth 
out the corn." Much more doth he care for his ser- 
vants who serve him. " He hath given meat unto them 
that fear him : he will ever be mindful of his cove- 
nant." The reapers in Jesus' fields shall not only re- 
ceive a blessed reward at the last, but they shall have 
plenteous comforts by the way. He is pleased to pay 
his servants twice : first in the labor itself, and a second 



242 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

time in the labor's sweet results. He gives them such 
joy and consolation in the service of their Master that 
it is a sweet employ, and they cry, " We delight to do 
thy will, O Lord." Heaven is made up of serving God 
day and night, and a foretaste of heaven is enjoyed in 
serving God on earth with earnest perseverance. 

God has ordained certain meal-times for his reap- 
ers ; and he has appointed that one of these shall be 
when they come together to listen to the Word preached. If 
God be with ministers they act as the disciples did of 
old, for they received the loaves and the fishes from the 
Lord Jesus, and then they handed them to the people. 
We, of ourselves, cannot feed one soul, much less thou- 
sands ; but when the Lord is with us we can keep as 
good a table as Solomon himself, with all his fine flour, 
and fat oxen, and roebucks, and fallow-deer. When the 
Lord blesses the provisions of his House, no matter 
how many thousands there may be, all his poor shall be 
filled with bread. I hope, beloved, you know what it is 
to sit under the shadow of the Word with great delight, 
and find the fruit thereof sweet unto your taste. Where 
the doctrines of grace are boldly and plainly delivered 
to you in connection with the other truths of revelation ; 
where Jesus Christ upon his cross is always lifted up ; 
where the work of the Spirit is not forgotten ; where the 
glorious purpose of the Father is never despised, there 
is sure to be rich provision for the children of God. 

Often, too, our gracious Lord appoints us meal- 
times in our private readings and meditations. Here it is 
that his " paths drop fatness." Nothing can be more 
fattening to the soul of the believer than feeding upon 
the Word, and digesting it by frequent meditation. 
No wonder that men grow so slowly when they meditate 



MEAL-TIME IN THE CORNFIELDS. 243 

so little. Cattle must chew the cud ; it is not that 
which they crop with their teeth, but that which is 
masticated, and digested by rumination, that nourishes*, 
them. We must take the truth, and turn it over and 
over again in the inward parts of our spirit, and so 
shall we extract suitable nourishment therefrom. My 
brethren, is not meditation the land of Goshen to you ? 
If men once said, " There is corn in Egypt," may 
they not always say that the finest of the wheat is to be 
found in secret prayer ? Private devotion is a land 
which floweth with milk and honey ; a paradise yield- 
ing all manner of fruits ; a banqueting house of choice 
wines. Ahasuerus might make a great feast, but all his 
hundred and twenty provinces could not furnish such 
dainties as meditation offers to the spiritual mind. 
Where can we feed and lie down in green pastures in so 
sweet a sense as we do in our musings on the Word ? 
Meditation distils the quintessence of joy from the 
Scriptures, and gladdens our mouth with a sweetness 
which excels the virgiu honey. Your retired periods 
and occasions of prayer should be to you refreshing sea- 
sons, in which, like the reapers at noonday, you sit with 
the Master and enjoy his generous provisions. The 
Shepherd of Salisbury Plain was wont to say that when 
he was lonely, and his wallet was empty, his Bible was 
to him meat and drink, and company too ; he is not the 
only man who has found a fulness in the Word when all 
else has been empty. During the battle of Waterloo a 
godly soldier, mortally wounded, was carried by his 
comrade into the rear, and being placed with his back 
propped up against a tree, he besought his friend to 
open his knapsack and take out the Bible which he had 
carried in it. " Read to me," he said, " one verse be- 



244 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

fore I close my eyes in death." His comrade read him 
that verse : " Peace I leave with you, my peace I give 
Unto you : not as the world giveth, give I unto you ;" 
and there, fresh from the whistling of the bullets, and 
the roll of the drum, and the tempest of human conflict, 
that believing spirit enjoyed such holy calm that ere he 
fell asleep in the arms of Jesus he said, " Yes, I have a 
peace with God which passeth all understanding, which 
keeps my heart and mind through Jesus Christ." Saints 
most surely enjoy delightful meal-times when they are 
alone in meditation. 

Let us not forget that there is one specially ordained 
meal-time which ought to occur at least once in die 
week — I mean the Supper of the Lord. There you have 
literally, as well as spiritually, a meal. The table is 
richly spread, it has upon it both bread and wine ; and 
looking at what these symbolize, we have before us a 
table richer than that which kings could furnish. There 
we have the flesh and the blood of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, whereof if a man eat he shall never hunger and 
never thirst, for that bread shall be unto him everlasting 
life. Oh ! the sweet seasons we have known at the 
Lord's Supper. If some of you knew the enjoyment of 
feeding upon Christ in that ordinance you would chide 
yourselves for not having united with the Church in 
fellowship. In keeping the Master's commandments 
there is " great reward," and consequently in neglect- 
ing them there is great loss of reward. Christ is not 
so tied to the sacramental table as to be always found 
of those who partake thereat, but still it is " in the way" 
that we may expect the Lord to meet with us. " If ye 
love me, keep my commandments," is a sentence of 
touching power. Sitting at this table, our soul has 



MEAL-TIME IN THE CORNFIELDS. 245 

mounted up from the emblem to the reality ; we have 
eaten bread in the kingdom of God, and have leaned 
our head upon Jesus' bosom. " He brought me to the 
banqueting-house, and his banner over me was love." 

Besides these regular meal-times, there are others 
which God gives us, at seasons w/ien, perhaps, we little ex- 
pect them. You have been walking the street, and sud- 
denly you have felt a holy flowing out of your soul tow- 
ard God ; or in the middle of business your heart has 
been melted with love and made to dance for joy, even 
as the brooks, which have been bound with winter's ice, 
leap to feel the touch of spring. You have been groan- 
ing, dull, and earth-bound ; but the sweet love of Jesus 
has enwrapped your heart when you scarce thought of 
it, and your spirit, all free, and all on fire, has rejoiced 
before the Lord with timbrel and dance, like Miriam of 
old. I have had times occasionally in preaching when 
I would fain have kept on far beyond the appointed 
hour, for my overflowing soul has been like a vessel 
wanting vent. Seasons, too, we have had on our sick 
beds, when we would have been content to be sick al- 
ways if we could have had our bed so well made by 
tender love, and our head so softly pillowed on conde- 
scending grace. 

Our blessed Redeemer comes to us in the morning, 
and wakes us up by dropping sweet thoughts upon our 
souls ; we know not how they came, but it is as if, when 
the dew was visiting the flowers, a few drops had taken 
pity upon us. In the cool eventide, too, as we have 
gone to our bed, our meditation of him has been sweet ; 
and, in the night watches, when we tossed to and fro, 
and could not sleep, he has been pleased to become our 
song in the night. 



246 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

God's reapers find it hard work to reap ; but they 
gain a blessed solace when in one way or another they 
sit down and eat of their Master's rich provisions ; then, 
with renewed strength, they rise with sharpened sickle, 
to reap again in the noontide heat. 

Let me observe that, while these meal-times come we 
know not exactly when, there are certain seasons when we 
may expect them. The Eastern reapers generally sit 
down under the shelter of a tree, or a booth, to take 
refreshment during the heat of the day. And certain I 
am that when trouble, affliction, persecution, and be- 
reavement become the most painful to us, it is then 
that the Lord hands out to us the sweetest comforts. 
We must work till the hot sun forces the sweat from 
our faces, and then we may look for repose ; we must 
bear the burden and heat of the day before we can ex- 
pect to be invited to those choice meals which the Lord 
prepares for true laborers. When thy day of trouble is 
hottest, then the love of Jesus shall be sweetest. 

Again, these meal-times frequently occur before a 
trial. Elijah must be entertained beneath a juniper tree, 
for he is to go a forty days' journey in the strength of 
that meat. You may suspect some danger nigh when 
your delights are overflowing. If 3 r ou see a ship taking 
in great quantities of provision, it is probably bound 
for a distant port, and when God gives you extraordi- 
nary seasons of communion with Jesus, you may look 
for long leagues of tempestuous sea. Sweet cordials 
prepare for stern conflicts. 

Times of refreshing also occur after trouble or ardu- 
ous service. Christ was tempted of the devil, and after- 
ward angels came and ministered unto him. Jacob 
wrestled with God, and afterward, at Mahanaim, hosts 



MEAL-TIME -IN THE CORNFIELDS. 247 

of angels met him. Abraham fought with the kings, 
and returned from their slaughter, and then it was that 
Melchisedec refreshed him with bread and wine. After 
conflict, content ; after battle, banquet. When thou 
hast waited on thy Lord, then thou shalt sit down, and 
thy Master will gird himself and wait upon thee. 

Let worldlings say what they will about the hard- 
ness of religion, we do not find it so. We own that 
reaping for Christ has its difficulties and troubles ; but 
still the bread which we eat is of heavenly sweetness, 
and the wine which we drink is crushed from celestial 
clusters : 

" I would not change my bless'd estate 
For all the world calls good or great ; 
And while my faith can keep her hold, 
I envy not the sinner's gold." 

II. Follow me while we turn to a second point. 

TO THESE MEALS THE GLEANER IS AFFECTIONATELY INVITED. 

That is to say, the poor, trembling stranger who has 
not strength enough to reap, who has no right to be in 
the field except the right of charity — the poor, trem- 
bling sinner, conscious of his own demerit, and feeling 
but little hope and little joy, is invited to the feast 
of love. 

In the text the gleaner is invited to come. "At meal- 
time come thou hither." We trust none of you will be 
kept away from the place of holy feasting by any shame 
on account of your dress, or your personal character, or 
your poverty ; nay, nor even on account of your physi- 
cal infirmities. " At meal-time come thou hither." I 
knew a deaf woman who could never hear a sound, and 
yet she was always in the House of God, and when 



248 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

asked why, her reply was that a friend found her the 
text, and then God was pleased to give her many a sweet 
thought upon it while she sat with his people ; besides, 
she felt that as a believer she ought to honor God by 
her p?'esence in his courts, and by confessing her union 
with his people ; and, better still, she always liked to 
be in the best of company, and as the presence of God 
was there, and the holy angels, and the saints of the 
Most High, whether she could hear or no, she would 
go. If such persons find pleasure in coming, we who can 
hear should never stay away. Though we feel our un- 
worthiness, we ought to be desirous to be laid in the 
House of God, as the sick were at the pool of Bethesda, 
hoping that the waters may be stirred, and that we may 
step in and be healed. Trembling soul, never let the 
temptations of the devil keep thee from the assembly of ■ 
worshippers ; " at meal-time come thou hither." 

Moreover, she was bidden not only to come but to eat. 
Whatever there is sweet and comfortable in the Word 
of God, ye that are of a broken and contrite spirit are 
invited to partake of it. "Jesus Christ came into the 
world to save sinners"'' — sinners such as you are. " In 
due time Christ died for the ungodly" — such ungodly 
ones as you feel yourselves to be. You desire to be 
Christ's. You may be Christ's. You are saying in your 
heart, " O that I could eat the children's bread !" 
You may eat it. You say, " I have no right." But the 
Lord gives you the invitation. Come withou't any other 
right than the right of his invitation. 

' ' Let not conscience make you linger, 
Nor of fitness fondly dream." 

But since he bids you " come," take him at his word ; 



meal-time: in the cornfields. 2^9 

and if there be a promise, believe it ; if there be an en- 
couraging word, accept it, and let the sweetness of it 
be yours. 

Note further, that she was not only invited to cat 
the bread, but to dip her morsel in the vinegar. We must 
not look upon this as being some sour stuff. No doubt 
there are crabbed souls in the church, who always dip 
their morsel in the sourest imaginable vinegar, and with 
a grim liberality invite others to share their misery with 
them ; but the vinegar in my text is altogether another 
thing. This was either a compound of various juices 
expressed from fruits, or else it was that weak kind of 
wine mingled with water which is still commonly used 
in the harvest-fields of Italy and the warmer parts of the 
world — a drink not exceedingly strong, but good 
enough to impart a relish to the food. It was, to use 
the only word which will give the meaning, a sauce, 
which the Orientals used with their bread. As we use 
butter, or as they on other occasions used oil, so in the 
harvest-field, believing it to have cooling properties, 
they used what is here called " vinegar." Beloved, the 
Lord's reapers have sauce with their bread ; they have 
not merely doctrines, but the holy unction which is the 
essence of doctrines ; they have not merely truths, but 
a hallowed delight accompanies the truths. Take, for 
instance, the doctrine of election, which is like the 
bread ; there is a sauce to dip it in. When I can say, 
"He loved me before the foundations of the world," 
the personal enjoyment of my interest in the truth be- 
comes a sauce into which I dip my morsel. And you, 
poor gleaner, are invited to dip your morsel in it too. 
I used to hear people sing that hymn of Toplady's, 
which begins — 



250 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

' ' A debtor to mercy alone, 
Of covenant mercy I sing ; 
Nor fear, with thy righteousness on, 
My person and offering to bring." 

The hymn rises to its climax in the lines — 

" Yes, I to the end shall endure, 
As sure as the earnest is given ; 
More, happy, but not more secure, 
The glorified spirits in heaven." 

I used to think I should never be able to sing that hymn. 
It was the sauce, you know. I might manage to eat 
some of the plain bread, but I could not dip it in that 
sauce. It was too high doctrine, too sweet, too consol- 
ing. But I thank God I have since ventured to dip my 
morsel in it, and now I hardly like my bread without it. 

I would have every trembling sinner partake of the 
comfortable parts of God's Word, even those which cav- 
illers call " High Doctrine." Let him believe the 
simpler truth first, and then dip it in the sweet doctrine 
and be happy in the Lord. 

I think I see the gleaner half prepared to come, for 
she is very hungry, and she has nothing with her ; but 
she begins to say, " I have no right to come, for I am 
not a reaper ; I do nothing for Christ ; I am only a sel- 
fish gleaner j I am not a reaper." Ah ! but thou art 
invited to come. Make no questions about it. Boaz 
bids thee ; take thou his invitation, and approach at 
once. "But," you say, "I am such a poor gleaner; 
though my labor is all for myself, yet it is little I win 
by it ; I get a few thoughts while the sermon is being 
preached, but I lose them before I reach home. ' ' I know 
you do, poor weak-handed woman. But still, Jesus 
invites thee. Come ! Take thou the sweet promise as he 



MEAL-TIME IN THE CORNFIELDS. 25 1 

presents it to thee, and let no bashfulness of thine send 
thee home hungry. " But," you say, " I am a stranger; 
you do not know my sins, my sinfulness, and the way- 
wardness of my heart." But Jesus does, and yet he 
invites you. He knows you are but a Moabitess, a 
stranger from the commonwealth of Israel ; but he bids 
you come. Is not that enough ? " But," you say, " I 
owe so much to him already ; it is so good of him to 
spare my forfeited life, and so tender of him to let me 
hear the gospel preached at all ; I cannot have the pre- 
sumption to be an intruder, and sit with the reapers." 
Oh ! but he bids you. There is more presumption in 
your doubting than there could be in your believing. 
He bids you. Will you refuse Boaz ? Shall Jesus' lips 
give the invitation, and will you say him nay ? Come, 
now, come. Remember that the little which Ruth could 
eat did not make Boaz any the poorer ; and all that 
thou wan test will make Christ none the less glorious or 
full of grace. Are thy necessities large ? His supplies 
are larger. Dost thou require great mercy ? He is a 
great Saviour. I tell thee that his mercy is no more to 
be exhausted than the sea is to be drained. Come at 
once. There is enough for thee, and Boaz will not be 
impoverished by thy feasting to the full. Moreover, let 
me tell thee a secret — Jesus loves thee ; therefore is it 
that he would have thee feed at his table. If thou art 
now a longing, trembling sinner, willing to be saved, 
but conscious that thou deservest it not, Jesus loves 
thee, and he will take more delight in seeing thee eat 
than thou wilt take in the eating. Let the sweet love 
he feels in his soul toward thee draw thee to him. And 
what is more — but this is a great secret, and must only 
be whispered in your ear — he intends to be married to you ; 



z$2 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

and when you are married to him, why, the fields will 
be yours ; for, of course, if you are his spouse, you are 
joint proprietor with him. Is it not so ? Doth not the 
wife share with the husband ? All those promises which 
are " yea and amen in Christ " shall be yours ; nay, 
they all are yours now, for " the man is next of kin unto 
you," and ere long he will take you unto himself for- 
ever, espousing you in faithfulness, and truth, and right- 
eousness. Will you not eat of your own ? "Oh! but," 
says one, " how can it be ? I am a stranger." Yes, a 
stranger; but Jesus Christ loves the stranger. " A publi- 
can, a sinner;" but he'is " the friend of publicans and sin- 
ners." " An outcast ;" but he " gathereth together the 
outcasts of Israel." "A stray sheep;" but the shep- 
herd " leaves the ninety and nine" to seek it. " A lost 
piece of money ;" but he " sweeps the house" to find 
thee. " A prodigal son ;" but he sets the bells a- ring- 
ing when he knows that thou wilt return. Come, 
Ruth ! Come, trembling gleaner ! Jesus invites thee ; 
accept the invitation. " At meal-time come thou hither, 
and eat of the bread, and dip thy morsel in the 
vinegar." 

III. Now, thirdly — and here is a very sweet point 
in the narrative — Boaz reached her the parched 
corn. She did " come and eat." Where did she £>it ? 
Note well that she " sat beside the reapers." She did 
not feel that she was one of them. Just like some of 
you who do not come to the Lord's Supper, but sit and 
look on. You are sitting " beside the reapers." You 
fear that you are not the people of God ; still you love 
them, and therefore sit beside them. If there is a good 
thing to be had, and you cannot get it, you will sit as 



MEAL-TIME IN THE CORNFIELDS. 253 

near as you can to those who do get it. " She sat beside 
the reapers." 

And while she was sitting there, what happened ? 
Did she stretch forth her hand and take the food herself ? 
No, it is written, " He reached her the parched corn." 
Ah ! that is it. None but the Lord of the harvest can 
hand out the choicest refreshments of spiritual minds. 
I give the invitation in my Master's name, and I hope 
I give it earnestly, affectionately, sincerely ; but I know 
very well that at my poor bidding none will come till 
the Spirit draws. No trembling heart will accept divine 
refreshing at my hand ; unless the King himself comes 
near, and reaches the parched corn to each chosen guest, 
none will receive it. How does he do this ? By his 
gracious Spirit, he first of all inspires your faith. You 
are afraid to think that it can be true that such a sinner 
as you are can ever be " accepted in the Beloved "; he 
breathes upon you, and your faint hope becomes an ex- 
pectancy, and that expectation buds and blossoms into 
an appropriating faith, which says, " Yes, my beloved 
is mine, and his desire is toward me" 

Having done this, the Saviour does more ; he sheds 
abroad the love of God in your heart. The love of Christ 
is like sweet perfume in a box. Now, he who put the 
perfume in the box is the only person that knows how 
to take off the lid. He, with his own skilful hand ; 
opens the secret blessing, and sheds abroad the love of 
God in the soul. 

But Jesus does more than this ; he reaches the 
parched corn with his own hand, when he gives us close 
communion with himself. Do not think that this is a 
dream ; I tell you there is such a thing as speaking wilh 
Christ to day. As certainly as I can talk with my 



254 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

dearest friend, or find solace in the company of my be- 
loved wife, so surely may I speak with Jesus, and find 
intense delight in the company of Immanuel. It is not 
a fiction. We do not worship a far-off Saviour ; he is a 
God nigh at hand. His word is in our mouth and in 
our heart, and we do to-day walk with him as the elect 
did of old, and commune with him as his apostles did 
on earth ; not after the flesh, it is true, but after a real 
and spiritual fashion. 

Yet once more let me add, the Lord Jesus is pleased to 
reach the parched corn, in the best sense, when the Spirit 
gives us the infallible witness within, that we are ' ' born of 
God." A man may know that he is a Christian beyond 
all question. Philip de Morny, who lived in the time of 
Prince Henry of Navarre, was wont to say that the Holy 
Spirit had made his own salvation to him as clear a point 
as a problem demonstrated in Euclid. You know with 
what mathematical precision the scholar of geometry 
solves a problem or proves a proposition, and with 
as absolute a precision, as certainly as twice two are 
four, we may " know that we have passed from death 
unto life." The sun in the heavens is not more clear to 
the eye than his present salvation to ah assured believer ; 
such a man could as soon doubt his own existence as 
suspect his possession of eternal life. 

Now let the prayer be breathed by poor Ruth, who 
is trembling yonder. Lord, reach me the parched 
corn ! " Show me a token for good." " Deal bounti- 
fully with thy servant." " Draw me, we will run after 
thee." Lord, send thy love into my heart ! 

" Come, Holy Spirit, heavenly Dove, 
With all thy quickening powers, 
Come, shed abroad a Saviour's love, 
And that shall kindle ours." 






MEAL-TIME IN THE CORNFIELDS. 255 

There is no getting at Christ except by Christ revealing 
himself to us. 

IV. And now the last point. After Boaz had reach- 
ed the parched corn, we are told that " she did eat, and 
was sufficed, and left." So shall it be with every 
Ruth. Sooner or later every penitent shall become a 
believer, every mourner a singer. There may be a space 
of deep conviction, and a period of much hesitation ; 
but there shall come a season when the soul decides for 
the Lord, and cries, " If I perish, I perish. I will go as 
I am to Jesus. I will not play the fool any longer with 
my huts and ifs, but since he bids me believe that he 
died for me, I will believe it, and will trust his cross for 
my salvation/' Whenever you shall be privileged to 
do this, you shall be " satisfied." "She did eat, and 
was sufficed." Your head shall be satisfied with th? pre- 
cious truth which Christ reveals ; your heart shall be 
content with Jesus, as the altogether lovely object of 
affection ; your hope shall be filled, for whom have you 
in heaven but Christ ? Yo\ir desire shall be satiated, for 
what can even your desire hunger for more than " to 
know Christ, and to be found in him." You shall find 
Jesus charm your conscience, till it is at perfect peace ; he 
shall content your judgment, till you know the certainty 
of his teachings ; he shall supply your memory with rec- 
ollections of what he did, and gratify your imagination 
with the prospects of what he is yet to do. 

" She was sufficed, and left." Some of us have had 
deep draughts of love ; we have thought that we could 
take in all of Christ, but when we have done our best, 
we have had to leave a vast remainder. We have sat 
down with a ravenous appetite at the table of the Lord's 



256 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

love, and said, " Nothing but the infinite can ever satisfy 
me," and that infinite has been granted us. I have felt 
that I am such a great sinner that nothing short of an 
infinite atonement could wash my sins away, and no 
doubt you have felt the same ; but we have had our sin 
removed, and found merit enough and to spare in Jesus ; 
we have had our hunger relieved, and found a redundance 
remaining for others who are in a similar case. There 
are certain sweet things in the Word of God which you 
and I have not enjoyed yet, and which we cannot enjoy 
yet ; and these we are obliged to leave for a while, till 
we are better prepared to receive them. Did not our 
Lord say, " I have yet many things to say unto you, 
but ye cannot bear them now" ? There is a special 
knowledge to which we have not attained, a place of 
intimate fellowship with Christ which we have not yet 
occupied. There are heights of communion which as 
yet our feet have not climbed — virgin snows of the 
mountain of God untrodden by the foot of man. There 
is yet a beyond, and there will be for ever. 

A verse or two further on we are told what Ruth did 
with her leavings. It is very wrong, I believe, at feasts 
to carry anything home with you ; but she was not under 
any such regulation, for that which was left she took 
home and gave to Naomi. So it shall be even with you, 
poor tremblers, who think you have no right to a morsel 
for yourselves ; you shall be allowed to eat, and when 
you are quite sufficed, you shall have courage to bear 
away a portion to others who are hungering at home. 
I am always pleased to find the young believer begin- 
ning to pocket something for others. When you hear 
a sermon you think, " My poor mother cannot get 
out to-day ; how I wish she could have been here, 



MEAL-TIME IN THE CORNFIELDS. 257 

for that sentence would have comforted her. If I 
forget everything else, I will tell her that." Cultivate 
an unselfish spirit. Seek to love as you have been loved. 
Remember that " the law and the prophets " are ful- 
filled in this, to love the Lord your God with all your 
heart, and your neighbor as yourself. How can you 
love your neighbor as yourself if you do not love his 
soul ? You have loved your own soul ; through grace 
you have been led to lay hold on Jesus ; love your 
neighbor's soul, and never be satisfied till you see hirn 
in the enjoyment of those things which are the charm 
of your life and the joy of our spirit. Take home vour 
gleanings for those you love who cannot glean for them- 
selves. 

I do not know how to give you an invitation to 
Christ more pleasantly, but I would with my whole 
heart cry, " Come and welcome to Jesus." I pray my 
Lord and Master to reach a handful of parched corn of 
comfort to you if you are a trembling sinner, and I also 
beg him to make you eat till you are fully sufficed. 



THE LOADED WAGON. 

" Behold, I am pressed under you, as a cart is pressed that is full of 
sheaves." — Amos 2 : 13. 

We have been into the cornfields to glean with Boaz 
and Ruth ; and I trust that the timid and faint-hearted 
have been encouraged to partake of the handfuls which 
are let fall on purpose for them by the order of our 
generous Lord. We go to-day to the gate of the har- 
vest-field with another object — to see the wagon piled up 
aloft with many sheaves come creaking forth, making 
ruts along the field. We come with gratitude to God, 
thanking him for the harvest, blessing him for favorable 
weather, and praying him to continue the same till the 
last shock of corn shall be brought in, and the husband- 
men everywhere shall shout the " Harvest Home." 

What a picture is a wagon loaded with corn of you 
and of me, as loaded with God's mercies ! From our 
cradle up till now, every day has added a sheaf of bless- 
ing. What could the Lord do for us more than he has 
done ? He has daily loaded us with benefits. Let us 
adore his goodness, and yield him our cheerful gratitude. 

Alas ! that such a sign should be capable of another 
reading. Alas ! that while God loadeth us with mercv, 
we should load him with sin. While he continually 
heapeth on sheaf after sheaf of favor we also add 
iniquity unto iniquity, till the weight of our sin becomes 
intolerable to the Most High, and he cries out by reason 



THE LOADED WAGON. 259 

of the burden, saying, " I am pressed under you, as a 
cart is pressed that is full of sheaves." 

Our text begins with a " Behold 7" and well it 
may. " Beholds" are put in the Bible as signs are 
hung out from houses of business, to attract attention. 
There is something new, important, deeply impressive, 
or worthy of attention wherever we see a " Behold " 
in sacred Scripture. I see this " Behold !" standing, as 
it were, like a maiden upon the steps of the house of 
wisdom, crying, " Turn in hither, O ye that are wise- 
hearted, and listen to the voice of God." Let us open 
our eyes that we may " behold," and may the Spirit 
make a w 7 ay through our eyes and ears to our hearts, 
that repentance and self -abhorrence may take hold upon 
us, because of our evil conduct towards our gracious God. 

It is to be understood before we proceed farther, 
that our text is only a figure, since God cannot actually 
be oppressed by man ; all the sin that man may commit 
can never disturb the serenity of the divine perfection, 
nor cause so much as a wave upon his everlasting calm. 
He doth but speak to us after the manner of man, and 
bring down the sublimities and mysteries of heaven to 
the feebleness and ignorance of earth. He speaketh to 
us as a great father may talk to his little child. Just 
as a cart has the axles bent, and as the wheels creak un- 
der the excessive load, so the Lord says that under the 
load of human guilt he is pressed down, until he crieth 
out, because he can bear no longer the iniquity of those 
that offend against him. We shall now turn to our 
first point ; may the Holy Ghost make it pointed to our 
consciences ! 

The first and most apparent truth in the text is, 

that SIN IS VERY GRIEVOUS AND BLRDENSOME TQ GOD. 



260 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

Be astonished, O heavens, and be amazed, O earth, 
that God should speak of being pressed and weighed 
down ! I do not read anywhere so much as half a sug- 
gestion that the whole burden of creation is any weight 
to the Most High. " He taketh up the isles as a very 
little thing." Neither sun, nor moon, nor stars, nor 
all the ponderous orbs which his omnipotence has cre- 
ated, cost him any labor in their sustenance. The 
heathen picture Atlas as stooping beneath the globe ; 
but the eternal God, who beareth up the pillars of the 
universe, " fainteth not, neither is weary." Nor do I 
find even the most distant approach to a suggestion that 
providence fatigues its Lord. He watches both by 
night and day ; his power goeth forth every moment. 
'Tis he who bringeth forth Mazzaroth in his season and 
guideth Arcturus with his sons. He beareth up the 
foundations of the earth ! and holdeth the corner- 
stone thereof. He causeth the dayspring to know its 
place, and setteth a bound to darkness and the shadow 
of death. All things are supported by the power of his 
hand, and there is nothing without him. Just as a 
moment's foam subsides into the wave that bears it and 
is lost for ever, so would the universe depart if the 
eternal God did not daily sustain it. This incessant 
working has not diminished his strength, nor is there 
any failing or thought of failing with him, He work- 
eth all things, and when they are wrought they are 
as nothing in his sight. But strange, most passing 
strange, miraculous among miracles, sin burdens God, 
though the world cannot ; and iniquity presses the Most 
High, though the whole weight of providence is as the 
small dust of the balance. Ah, ye careless sons of 
Adam, ye think sin a trifle ; and as for you, ye sons of 



THE LOADED WAGON. 26 1 

Belial, ye count it sport, and say, " He regardelh not ; 
he seeth not ; how doth God know ? and if he knoweth 
he careth not for our sins." Learn ye from the Book 
of God, that so far from this being the truth, your sins 
are a grief to him, a burden and a load to him, till, like 
a cart that is overloaded with sheaves, so is he weighed 
down with human guilt. 

This will be very clear if we meditate for a moment 
upon what sin is, and what sin does. Sin is the great 
spoiler of all God's works. Sin turned an archangel into 
an archfiend, and angels of light into spirits of evil. 
Sin looked on Eden and withered all its flowers. Ere 
sin had come the Creator said of the new-made earth, 
" It is very good ' ' ; but when sin had entered, it grieved 
God at his very heart that he had made such a creature 
as man. Nothing tarnishes beauty so much as sin, for 
it mars God's image and erases his superscription. 

Moreover, sin makes God" s creatures unhappy, and shall 
not the Lord, therefore, abhor it ? God never designed 
that any creature of his hand should be miserable. He 
made the creatures on purpose that they should be glad ; 
he gave the birds their song, the flowers their perfume, 
the air its balm ; he gave to day the smiling sun and to 
night its coronet of stars ; for he intended that smiles 
should be his perpetual worship, and joy the incense of 
his praise. But sin has made God's favorite creature a 
wretch, and brought down God's offspring, made in his 
own image, to become naked, and poor, and miserable ; 
and therefore God hateth sin, and is pressed down un- 
der it, because it maketh the objects of his love unhappy 
at their heart. 

Moreover, remember that sin attacks God in all his 
attributes, assails him on his throne, and stabs at his ex- 



262 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

istence. What is sin ? Is it not an insult to God's 
wisdom ? O sinner, God biddeth thee do his will ; when 
thou doest the contrary it is because thou dost as much 
as say, " I know what is good for me, and God does not 
know." You do in effect declare that infinite wisdom 
is in error, and that you, the creature of a day, are the 
best judge of happiness. Sin impugns God's goodness ; 
for by sin you declare that God has denied 37'ou that 
which would make you happy, and this is not the part 
of a good, tender, and loving Father. Sin cuts at the 
Lord's wisdom with one hand, and at his goodness 
with the other. 

Sin also abuses the mercy of God. When you, as 
many of you have done, sin with the higher hand be- 
cause of his long-suffering toward you ; when, because 
you have no sickness, no losses, no crosses, therefore 
you spend your time in revelry and obstinate rebellion 
— what is this but taking the mercy which was meant 
for your good and turning it into mischief ? It is no 
small grief to the loving father to see his substance 
spent with harlots in riotous living ; he cannot endure 
it that his child should be so degraded as to turn even 
the mercy which would woo him to repentance into a 
reason why he should sin the more against him. Be- 
sides, let me remind the careless and impenitent that 
every sin is a defiance of divine power. In effect it is 
lifting your puny fists against the majesty of heaven, 
and defying God to destroy you. Every time you sin, 
you defy the Lord to prove whether he can maintain his 
law or no. Is this a slight thing, that a worm, the 
creature of a day, should defy the Lord of ages, the God 
that filleth and upholdeth all things by the word of his 
power ? Well may he be weary, when he has to bear 



THE LOADED WAGON. 263 

with such provocations and insults as those ! Mention 
what attribute you will, and sin has blotted it ; speak of 
God in any relationship you choose, and sin has cast a 
slur upon him. It is evil, only evil, and that continu- 
ally ; in every view of it it must be offensive to the Most 
High. Sinner, dost thou know that every act of diso- 
bedience to God's law is virtually an act of high treason ? 
What dost thou do but seek to be God thyself, thine 
own master, thine own lord ? Every time thou swerv- 
est from his will, it is to put thy will into his place ; it 
is to make thyself a god, and to undeify the Most 
High. And is this a little offence, to snatch from his 
brow the crown, and from his hand the sceptre ? I tell 
thee it is such an act that heaven itself could not stand 
unless it were resented ; if this crime were suffered to 
go unpunished, the wheels of heaven's commonwealth 
would be taken from their axles, and the whole frame 
of moral government would be unhinged. Such a treason 
against God shall certainly be visited with punishment. 
To crown all, sin is an onslaught upon God himself , for 
sin is atheism of heart. Let his religious profession be 
what it may, the sinner hath said in his heart, " No 
God." He wishes that there were no law and no 
Supreme Ruler. Is this a trifle ? To be a Deicide ! 
To desire to put God out of his own world ! Is this a 
thing to be winked at ? Can the Most High hear it and 
not be pressed down beneath its weight ? I pray you 
do not think that I would make a needless outcry 
against sin and disobedience. It is not in the power of 
human imagination to exaggerate the evil of sin, nor 
will it ever be possible for mortal lips, though they 
should be touched like those of Esaias with a live coal 
from off the altar, to thunder out the ten-thousandth 



264 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

part of the enormity of the least sin against God. 
Think, dear friends ! We are his creatures, and yet we 
will not do his will. We are fed by him, the breath in 
our nostrils he gives us, and yet we spend that breath in 
murmuring and rebellion. 

Once more, we are always in the sight of our om- 
niscient God, and.3 T et the presence of God is not enough 
to compel us to obedience. Surely if a man should in- 
sult law in the very presence of the lawgiver, that were 
not to be borne with ; but this is your case and mine. 
We must confess, " Against thee, thee only, have I 
sinned, and done this evil in thy sight." We must re- 
member also, that we offend, knowing that we are 
offending. We do not sin as the Hottentot, or the can- 
nibal. We in England sin against extraordinary light 
and sevenfold knowledge ; and is this a light thing ? 
Can you expect that God shall pass by wilful and de- 
liberate offences ? Oh, that these lips had language, 
that this heart could, burn for once ! for if I could de- 
clare the horrible infamy of sin it would make the blood 
chill in even a haughty Pharaoh's veins, and proud 
Nebuchadnezzar would bow his head in fear. It is in- 
deed a terrible thing to have* rebelled against the Most 
High. The Lord have mercy upon his servants and 
forgive them. 

This is our first point, but / cannot teach you it, 
God himself must teach it by his Spirit. Oh, that the 
Holy Ghost may make you feel that sin is exceedingly 
sinful, so that it is grievous and burdensome to God ! 

Secondly, some sins are more especially grievous 
to God. The connection of our text will help you to 
see the force of this observation. 



THE LOADED WAGON. 265 

There is no such thing as a little sin, but still there 
are degrees of guilt, and it were folly to say that a sin- 
ful thought hath in it the same extent of evil as a sinful 
act. A filthy imagination is sinful — wholly sinful and 
greatly sinful, but still a filthy act has attained a higher 
degree of provocation. There are sins which especially 
provoke God. In the connection of the text we read 
that licentiousness does this. The Jewish people in the 
days of Amos seem to have gone to a very high degree 
of fornication and lechery. This sin is not uncommon 
in our day ; let our midnight streets and our divorce 
courts be the witness. I say no more. Let each one 
keep his body pure ; for want of chastity is a grievous 
evil before the Lord. 

Oppression, too, according to the prophet, is another 
great provocation to God. The prophet speaks of sell- 
ing the poor for a pair of shoes ; and some w T ould grind 
the widow and the orphan, and make the laborer toil 
for nought. How man)? - business men have no " bowels 
of compassion." Men form themselves into societies, 
and then exact an outrageous usury upon loans from 
the unhappy beings who fall into their hands. Cun- 
ning legal quibbles and crafty evasions of just debts 
often amount to heavy oppression, and are sure to 
bring down the anger of the Most High. 

Then, again, it seems that idolatry and blasphemy are 
highly offensive to God, and have a high degree of 
heinousness. He says that the people drank the wine 
of false gods. If any man sets up his belly, or his gold, 
or his wealth as his god, and if he lives to these instead 
of living to the Most High, he hath offended by idol- 
atry. Woe to such, and equal woe to those who adore 
crosses, sacraments, or images. 



266 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

Specially is blasphe?ny a God-provoking sin. For 
blasphemy there is no excuse. As George Herbert says, 
" Lust and wine plead a pleasure ;" there is gain to be 
pleaded for avarice, '• but the cheap swearer from his 
open sluice lets his soul run for nought." There is 
nothing gained by profane talk ; there can be no pleas- 
ure in cursing ; this is offending for offending's sake, 
and hence it is a high and crying sin, which makes the 
Lord grow weary of men. There may be some among 
you to whom these words may be personal accusations. 
Do I address the lecherous, or the oppressive, or the 
profane ? Ah, soul, what a mercy God hath borne with 
thee so long ; the time will come, however, when he 
will say, " Ah, I will ease me of mine adversaries," and 
how easily will he cast you off and appoint you an awful 
destruction. 

Again, while some sins are thus grievous to God 
for their peculiar heinousness, many men are especially 
obnoxious to God because of the length of their sin. 
That gray-headed man, how many times has he pro- 
voked the Most High ! Why, those who are but lads have 
cause to count their years and apply their hearts unto 
wisdom because of the length of time they have lived 
in rebellion ; but what shall I say of you who have been 
half a century in open war against God — and some of 
you sixty, seventy, what if I said near upon eighty 
years ? Ah, you have had eighty years of mercies, and 
returned eighty years of neglect : for eighty years of 
patience you have rendered eighty years of ingratitude. 
O God, well mayest thou be wearied by the length and 
number of man's sins ! 

Furthermore, God taketh special note and feeleth 
an especial weariness of sin that is mixed with obstinacy. 



THE LOADED WAGON. 267 

Oh how obstinate some men are ! They will be damned ; 
there is no helping them ; they seem as if they would 
leap the Alps to reach perdition, and swim through 
seas of fire that they may destroy their souls. I 
might tell you cases of men that have been sore sick of 
fever, ague, and cholera, and they have only recovered 
their health to return to their sins. Some of them have 
had troubles in business, thick and threefold : they were 
once in respectable circumstances, but they spent their 
living riotously, and they became poor ; yet they still 
struggle on in sin. They are growing poorer every day, 
most of their clothes have gone to the pawnshop ; but 
they will not turn from the tavern and the brothel. 
Another child is dead ! The wife is sick, and starvation 
stares the family in the face ; but they go on still with 
a high hand and an outstretched arm. This is ob- 
stinacy, indeed. Sinner ! God will let thee have thine 
own way one of these days, and that way will be thine 
everlasting ruin. God is weary of those who set them- 
selves to do mischief, and, against warnings, and invi- 
tations, and entreaties, are determined to go on in sin. 

The context seems to tell us that ingratitude is in- 
tensely burdensome to God. He tells the people how 
he brought them out of Egypt ; how he cast out the 
Amorites ; how he raised up their sons for prophets, 
and their young men for Nazarites ;. and yet they re- 
belled against him ! This was one of the things that 
pricked my heart when I first came to God as a guilty 
sinner, not so much the peculiar heinousness of my out- 
ward life, as the peculiar mercies that I had enjoyed. 
How generous God has been to some of us — some of us 
who never had a want ! God has never cast us into 
poverty, nor left us to infamy, nor given us up to evil ex- 



268 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

ample, but he has kept us moral, and made us love his 
house even when we did not love him, and all tnis he 
has done year after year : and what poor returns we 
have made ! To us, his people, what joy he has given, 
what deliverances, what love, what comfort, what bliss 
— and yet we have sinned to his face ! Well may he be 
as a cart that is pressed down, that is full of sheaves. 

Let me observe, before I leave this point, that it 
seems from our text, that the Lord is so pressed, that 
he even crieth out. Just as the cart when laden with the 
sheaves, groaneth under the weight, so the Lord crieth 
out under the load of sin. Have you never heard those 
accents ? " Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth : 
for the Lord hath spoken, I have nourished and brought 
up children, and they have rebelled against me!" 
Hear again : " Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways ; 
for why will ye die, O house of Israel ? " Better still, 
hear the lament from the lip of Jesus, soft and gentle 
as the dew — " O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest 
the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, 
how often would I have gathered thy children to- 
gether, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under 
her wings, and ye would not ! " Sinner, God is cut to 
the heart by thy sin ; thy Creator grieves over that 
which thou laughest at ; thy Saviour crieth out in his 
spirit concerning that which thou thinkest to be a trifle — 
"O do not this abominable thing which I hate!" 
For God's sake do it not ! We often say " for God's 
sake," without knowing what we mean ; but here see 
what it means, for the sake of God, that ye grieve not 
your Creator, that ye cause not the Eternal One himself 
to cry out by reason of weariness of you. Cease ye, 
cease ye, from your evil ways ; for why will ye die, O 



THE LOADED WAGON. 269 

house of Israel ? I now leave those two points to pass 
on very briefly to the next. 

While it is true that sin is grievous to the Lord, it 
magnifies his mercy when we see that he bears the 
load. As the cart is not said to break, but is pressed 
only, so is he pressed, and yet he bears. If you and I 
were in God's place, should we have borne it ? Nay, 
within a week we shoud have burned the universe with 
fire, or trodden it to powder beneath our feet. If the 
law of heaven were as swift to punish as the law of 
man, where were we ? How easily could he avenge his 
honor ! How many servants wait around him ready to 
do his bidding ! As the Roman consul went out, at- 
tended by his lictors carrying the axe, so God is ever 
attended by his executioners, who are ready to fulfil his 
sentence. A stone, a tile from a roof, a thunderbolt, a 
puff of wind, a grain of dust, a whiff of gas, a broken 
blood-vessel, and all is over, and you are dead, and in 
the hands of an angry God. Indeed, the Lord has to 
restrain the servants of his anger, for the heavens cry, 
" Why should we cover that wretch's head ?" Earth 
asks, " Why should I yield at harvest to the sinner's 
plough ?" The lightnings thunder, and say, " Let us 
smite the rebel," and the seas roar upon the sinner, de- 
siring him as their prey. There is no greater proof of 
the omnipotence of God than his longsuffering ; for it 
shows the greatest possible power for God to be able to 
control himself. Sinner, yet Jehovah bears with thee. 
The angels have been astonished at it ; they thought he 
would strike, but yet he bears with you. Have you 
ever seen a patient man insulted ? He has been met in 
the street by a villain, who insults him before a mob of 



2^0 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

boys. He bears it. The fellow spits in his face. He 
bears it still. The offender strikes him. He endures it 
quietty. " Give him in charge," says one. " No," says 
he, " I forgive him all." The fellow knocks him down, 
and rolls him in the kennel, but he bears it still ; yes, and 
when he rises all covered with mire, he says, " If there 
be anything that I can do to befriend you, I will do it 
now." Just at that moment the wretch is arrested by 
a sheriff's officer for debt ; the man who has been in- 
sulted takes out his purse and pays the debt, and says, 
" You may go free." See, the wretch spits in his face 
after that ! " Now," you say, " let the law have its 
way with him." Is there any room for patience now ? 
So would it have been with man ; it has not been so 
with God. Though like the cart he is pressed under 
the load of sheaves, yet like the cart the axle does not 
break. He bears the load. He bears with impenitent 
sinners still. 

And this brings me to the fourth head, on which I 
would have your deepest attention. Some of you, I fear, 
have never seen sin in the light of grieving God, or else 
you would not wish to grieve him any more. On the 
other hand some of you feel how bitter a thing evil is, 
and you wish to be rid of it. This is our fourth head. 
Not only doth God still bear with sin, but God, in the 

PERSON OF HIS SON, DID BEAR AND TAKE AWAY SIN. 

These words would have deep meaning if put into 
the lips of Jesus — " I am pressed under you, as a cart 
is pressed that is full of sheaves." Here stood the great 
problem. God must punish sin, and yet he desired to 
have mercy. How could it be ? Lo ! Jesus comes to 
be the substitute for all who trust him. The load of 



THE LOADED WAGON. 27 1 

guilt is laid upon his shoulders. See how they pile on 
him the sheaves of human sin ! 

" My soul looks back to see 

The burdens thou didst bear, 
When hanging on the cursed tree, 
And hopes her guilt was there." 

11 The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all." 
There they lie, sheaf on sheaf, till he is pressed down 
like the wain that groan eth as it moves along. " He is 
despised and rejected of men ; a man of sorrows, and 
acquainted with grief." See him, he did " sweat as it 
were great drops of blood falling to the ground." 
Herod mocks him. Pilate jeers him. They have smit- 
ten the Prince of Judah upon the cheek. " I gave my 
back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked 
off the hair : I hid not my face from shame and spit- 
ting." They have tied him to the pillar ; they are beat- 
ing him with rods, not this time forty stripes save one, for 
there is no " save one " with him. " The chastisement 
of our peace was upon him ; and with his stripes we are 
healed." See him ; like a cart pressed down with 
sheaves traversing the streets of Jerusalem. Well may 
ye weep, ye daughters of Jerusalem, though he bids ye 
dry your tears ! Abjects hoot at him as he walks along 
bowed beneath the load of his own cross, which was the 
emblem of our sin. They bring him to Golgotha. 
They throw him on his back, they stretch out his hands 
and his feet. The accursed iron penetrates the ten- 
derest part of his body, where most the nerves do con- 
gregate. They lift up the cross. O bleeding Saviour, 
thy time of woe is come ! They dash it into the socket 
with cruel force, the nails are tearing through his hands 



272 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

and feet. He hangeth in extremity, for God hath for- 
saken him ; his enemies persecute and take him, for 
there is none to deliver him. They mock his nakedness ; 
they point at his agonies. They look and stare upon him. 
With ribald jests they insult his griefs. They make puns 
upon his prayers. He is now indeed a worm, and no 
man, crushed till you can scarcely think that divinity 
dwells within him. Fever parches him ; his tongue is 
dried up like a potsherd, and he cries, ' ' I thirst !" Vine- 
gar is all they yield him. The sun refuses to shine, and 
the dense midnight of that awful mid-day is a fitting 
emOlem of the tenfold darkness of his soul. Out of 
that all-encompassing horror he crieth, " My God, my 
God, why hast thou forsaken me ?" Then, indeed, was 
he pressed down ! There was never sorrow like unto 
his sorrow. All mortal griefs found a reservoir in his 
heart, and the punishment of human guilt spent itself 
upon his body and his soul. Shall sin ever be a trifle to 
me ? Shall I laugh at that which made my Saviour 
groan ? Shall I toy and dally with that which stabbed 
him to the heart ? Sinner, wilt thou not give up thy 
sins for the sake of him who suffered for sin ? " Yes," 
sayest thou, " yes, if I could believe that he suffered for 
my sake." Wilt thou trust thy soul in his hands at 
once ? Dost thou do so ? Then he died for thee and 
took thy guilt, and carried all thy sorrows, and thou 
mayest go free, for God is satisfied, and thou art ab- 
solved. Christ was burdened that thou mightest be 
lightened; he was pressed that thou mightest be free. 
I would I could talk of my precious Master as John 
would- speak, who saw him and bare witness, for he 
could tell in plaintive tones of the sorrows of Calvary. 
Such as I have I give you ; oh that God would give 



THE LOADED WAGON. 273 

you with it the power, the grace to believe on Jesus at 
once. 

V. For if not, and here is our last point, God will 
only bear the load of our provocation for a little while ; 
and if we are not in Christ when the end shall come, 

THAT SAME LOAD WILL CRUSH US FOREVER. 

My text is translated by many learned men in a 
different way from the version before us. According 
to them it should be read, " I will press you as a cart 
that is full of sheaves presseth your place. ' ' That is, just 
as a heavy loaded wagon pressed into the soft eastern 
roads and left deep furrows, so will I crush you, saith 
God, beneath the load of your sin. This is to be your 
doom, my hearer, if you are out of Christ : your own 
deeds are to press upon you. Need we enlarge upon 
this terror ? I think not. It only needs that you 
should make a personal application of the threatening ! 
Divide yourselves now. Divide yourselves, I say ! 
Answer each one for himself — Dost thou believe on the. 
Lord Jesus Christ ? then the threatening is not thine. 
But if thou believest not I conjure thee listen to me 
now as if thou wert the only person here. A Christless 
soul will ere long be a castaway ; he that believeth not 
in Christ is condemned already, because he believeth not. 
How wilt thou escape if thou wilt neglect so great sal- 
vation ? Thus saith the Lord unto thee, " Consider 
thy ways." By time, by eternity, by life, by death, by 
heaven, by hell, I do conjure thee believe in him who 
is able to save unto the uttermost them that come unto 
him ; but if thou believest not in Christ thou shalt die 
in thy sins. 

After death the judgment ! Oh ! the judgment, 



274 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

the thundering trumpet, the multitude, the books, the 
great white throne, the " Come, ye blessed," the " De- 
part, ye cursed !-' 

After judgment, to a soul that is out of Christ, 
Hell ! Who among us ? who among us shall abide with 
the devouring flame? Who among us ? Who among 
us shall dwell with everlasting burnings ? I pray that 
none of us may. - But we must unless we fly to Christ. 
I beseech thee, my dear hearer, fly to Jesus ! I may 
never see thy face again ; thine eyes may never look 
into mine again ; but I shake my skirts of thy blood 
if thou believest not in Christ. My tears entreat thee ; 
let his longsuffering lead thee to repentance. He will- 
eth not the death of any, but that they should turn unto 
him and live : and this turning lies mainly in trusting 
Jesus with your soul. W T ilt thou believe in Christ ? 
Nay, I know thou wilt not unless the Spirit of God 
'shall constrain thee ; but if thou wilt not, it shall not 
be for want of pleading and entreating. Come, 'tis 
mercy's welcome hour. I pray thee, come. Jesus with 
pierced hands invites thee, though thou hast long re- 
jected him. He knocks again. His unconquerable 
love defies thy wickedness. He begs thee to be saved. 
Sinner, wilt thou have him or no ? " Whosoever will, 
let him come and take of the water of life freely." God 
help you to come, for the glorious Redeemer's sake. 
Amen. 



THRESHING. 

" For the fitches are not threshed with a threshing instrument, neither is a 
cart wheel turned about upon the cummin ; but the fitches are beaten out with 
a staff, and the cummin with a rod. Bread corn is bruised ; because he will 
not ever be threshing it, nor break it with the wheel of his cart, nor bruise it 
with his horsemen." — Isaiah 28 : 27, 28. 

The art of husbandry was taught to man by God. 
He would have starved while he was discovering it, and 
so the Lord, when he sent him out of the Garden of 
Eden, gave him a measure of elementary instruction in 
agriculture, even as the prophet puts it — " His God 
doth instruct him to discretion, and doth teach him." 
God has taught man to plough, to break the clods, to 
sow the different kinds of grain, and to thresh out the 
different sorts of seeds. 

The Eastern husbandman could not thresh by 
machinery as we do ; but still he was ingenious and 
discreet in that operation. Sometimes a heavy instru- 
ment was dragged over the corn to tear out the grain. 
This is what is intended in the first clause by the " thresh- 
ing instrument," as also in that passage, " I have made 
thee a sharp threshing instrument having teeth. ' ' When 
the corn-drag was not used, they often turned the heavy 
solid wheel of a country cart over the straw. This is 
alluded to in the next sentence : " Neither is a cart 
wheel turned about upon the cummin." They had also 
flails not very unlike our own, and then for still smaller 



276 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

seeds, such as dill and cummin, they used a simple staff, 
or a slender switch. " The fitches are beaten out with 
a staff, and the cummin with a rod." 

This is not the time or place to give a dissertation 
upon threshing. We find every information upon that 
subject in proper books ; but the meaning of the illus- 
tration is this — that as God has taught husbandmen to 
distinguish between different kinds of grain in the 
threshing, so does he in his infinite wisdom deal dis- 
creetly with different sorts of men. He does not try us 
all alike, seeing we are differently constituted. He 
does not pass us all through the same agony of convic- 
tion : we are not all to the same extent threshed with 
terrors. He does not give us all to endure the same 
family or bodily affliction ; one escapes with only being 
beaten with a rod, while another feels, as it were, the 
feet of horses in his heavy tribulations. 

Oar subject is just this. Threshing : all kinds of 
seeds need it, all sorts of men need it. Secondly, the 
threshing is done with discretion, and, thirdly, the threshing 
will not last forever ; for so the second verse of the text 
says : " Bread corn is bruised ; because he will not ever 
be threshing it, nor break it with the wheel of his cart, 
nor bruise it with his horseman." 

I. First, then, we all need threshing. Some have 
a foolish conceit of themselves that they have no sin ; 
but they deceive themselves, and the truth is not in 
them. The best of men are men at the best ; and 
being men, they are not perfect, but are still compassed 
about with infirmity. What is the object of threshing 
the grain ? Is it not to separate it from the straw and 
the chaff ? 



THRESHING. 277 

About the best of men there is still a measure of e/iaff. Ail 
is not grain that lies upon the threshing-floor. All is not 
grain even in those golden sheaves which have been 
brought into our garner so joyfully. Even the wheat is 
joined to the straw, which was necessary to it at one 
time. About the kernel of the wheat the husk is wrap- 
ped, and this still clings to it even when it lies upon the 
threshing-floor About the holiest of men there is 
something superfluous, something which must be re- 
moved. We either sin by omission or by trespass. 
Either in spirit, or motive, or lack of zeal, or want of 
discretion, we are faulty. If we escape one error, we 
usually glide into its opposite. If before an action we 
are right, we err in the doing of it, or, if not, we become 
proud after it is over. If sin be shut out at the front 
door, it tries the back gate, or climbs in at the window, 
or comes down the chimney. Those who cannot per- 
ceive it in themselves are frequently blinded by its 
smoke. They are so thoroughly in the water that they 
do not know that it rains. So far as my own observation 
goes I have found out no man whom the old divines 
would have called perfectly perfect ; the absolutely all- 
round man is a being whom I expect to see in heaven, 
but not in this poor fallen world. We all need such 
cleansing and purging as the threshing-floor is intended 
to work for us. 

Xow, threshing is useful in loosening the connection 
between the good corn and the husk. Of course, if it would 
slip out easily from its husk, the corn would only need 
to be shaken. There would be no necessity for a staff or 
a rod, much less for the feet of horses, or the wheel of 
a cart to separate it. But there's the rub : our soul not 
onlv lieth in the dust, but " cleaveth " to it. There is 



278 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

a fearful intimacy between fallen human nature and 
the evil which is in the world; and this compact is not 
soon broken. In our hearts we hate every false way, 
and yet we sorrowfully confess, " When I would do 
good, evil is present with me." Sometimes when our 
spirit cries out most ardently after God, a holy will is 
present with us, but how to perform that which is 
good we find not. Flesh and blood have tendencies and 
weaknesses which, if not sinful in themselves, yet tend in 
that direction. Appetites need but slight excitement to 
germinate into lusts. It is not easy for us to forget our 
own kindred and our father's house even when the 
king doth most greatly desire our beauty. Our alien 
nature remembers Egypt and the flesh-pots while yet 
the manna is in our mouths. We were all born in the 
house of evil, and some of us were nursed upon the lap 
of iniquity, so that our first companionships were among 
the heirs of wrath. That which was bred in the bone 
is hard to get out of the flesh. Threshing is used to 
loosen our hold of earthly things and break us away 
from evil. This needs a divine hand, and nothing but 
the grace of God can make the threshing effectual. 
Something is done by threshing when the soul ceases to 
be bound up with its sin, and sin is no longer pleasur- 
able or satisfactory. Still, as the work of threshing is 
never done till the corn is separated altogether from 
the husk, 'so chastening and discipline have never ac- 
complished their design till God's people give up every 
form of evil, and abhor all iniquity. When we shake 
right out of the straw, and have nothing further to do 
with sin, then the flail will lie quiet. It has taken a 
good deal of threshing to bring some of us anywhere near 
that mark, and I am afraid many more heavy blows will 



THRESHING. 279 

be struck before we shall reach the total separation. 
From a certain sort of sins we are very easily separated 
by the grace of God early in our spiritual life ; but when 
those are gone, another layer of evils comes into sight, 
and the work has to berepated. The complete removal 
of our connection with sin is a work demanding the 
divine skill and power of the Holy Ghost, and by him 
only will it be accomplished. 

Threshing becomes needful for the sake of our use- 
fulness ; for the wheat must come out of the husk to be 
of service. We can only honor God and bless men by 
being holy, harmless, undenled, and separate from 
sinners O corn of the Lord's threshing-floor, thou 
must be beaten and bruised, or perish as a worthless 
heap ! Eminent usefulness usually necessitates eminent 
affliction. 

Unless thus severed from sin, we cannot be gath- 
ered into the garner. God's pure wheat must not be de- 
filed by an admixture of chaff. There shall in nowise 
enter into heaven anything that defileth, therefore every 
sort of imperfection must come away from us by some 
means or other ere we can enter into the state of eternal 
blessedness and perfection. Yea, even here we cannot 
have true fellowship with the Father unless we are 
daily delivered from sin. 

Peradventure some of us to-day are lying up on the 
threshing-floor, suffering from the blows of chastise- 
ment What then ? Why, let us rejoice therein ; for 
this testifies to our value in the sight of God. If the wheat 
were to cry out and say, " The great drag has gone over 
me, therefore the husbandman has no care for me," we 
should instantly reply — The husbandman does not pass 
the corn-drag over the darnel or the nettles ; it is only 



2 SO TALKS TO FARMERS. 

over the precious wheat that he turns the wheel of his 
cart, or the feet of his oxen. Because he esteems the 
wheat, therefore he deals sternly with it and spares it 
not. Judge not, O believer, that God hates you because 
he afflicts you ; but interpret truly and see that he 
honors you by every stroke which he lays upon you. 
Thus saith the Lord, " You only have I known of all 
the nations of the earth, therefore I will punish you 
for all your iniquities." Because a full atonement has 
been made by the Lord Jesus for all his people's sins, 
therefore he will not punish us as a judge ; but because 
we are his dear children, therefore he will chastise us 
as a father. In love he corrects his own children that 
he may perfect them in his own image, and make them 
partakers of his holiness. Is it not written, " I will 
bring them under the rod of the covenant" ? Has he 
not said, " I have refined thee, but not with silver, I 
have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction" ? There- 
fore do not judge according to the sight of the eyes or 
the feeling of the rlesh, but judge according to faith, and 
understand that, as threshing is a testimony to the value 
of the wheat, so affliction is a token of God's delight in 
his people. 

Remember, however, that as threshing is a sign of 
the impurity of the wheat, so is affliction an indication of 
the present imperfection of the Christian. If you were no 
more connected with evil, you would be no more cor- 
rected with sorrow. The sound of a flail is never heard 
in heaven, for it is not the threshing-floor of the im- 
perfect but the garner of the completely sanctified. 
The threshing instrument is therefore a humbling token, 
and so long as we feel it we should humble ourselves 
under the hand of God, for it is clear that we are not 



THRESHING. 251 

yet free from the straw and the chaff of fallen 
nature. 

On the other hand, the instrument is a prophecy of 
our future perfection. We are undergoing from the hand 
of God a discipline which will not fail : we shall by his 
prudence and wisdom be clean delivered from the 
husk of sin. We are feeling the blows of the staff, but 
we are being effectually separated from the evil which 
has so long surrounded us, and for certain we shall one 
day be pure and perfect. Every tendency to sin shall 
be beaten off. " Foolishness is bound in the heart 
of a child ; but the rod of correction shall drive it 
far from him." If, we being evil, yet succeed with 
our children by our poor, imperfect chastening, how 
much more shall the Father of spirits cause us to live 
unto himself by his holy discipline ? If the corn could 
know the necessary uses of the flail, it would invite the 
thresher to his work ; and since we know whereunto 
tribulation tendeth, let us glory in it, and yield ourselves 
with cheerfulness to its processes. We need threshing, 
the threshing proves our value in God's sight, and while 
it marks our imperfection, it secures our ultimate 
cleansing. 

II. Secondly, I would remark that God's threshing 
is done with great discretion; " for the fitches are 
not threshed with a threshing instrument. ' ' The poor lit- 
tle fitches, a kind of small seed used for flavoring cakes, 
were not crushed out with a heavy drag, for by such 
rough usage they would have been broken up and spoil- 
ed. " Neither is a cart wheel turned about upon the 
cummin ;" this little seed, perhaps the carraway, would' 
have been ground by so great a weight ; it would have 



282 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

been preposterous to treat it in that rough manner. 
The fitches were soon removed from the stalks by being 
" beaten out with a staff," and the cummin needed 
nothing but a touch of a rod. For tender seeds the 
farmer uses gentle means, and for the hardier grains he 
reserves the sterner processes. Let us think of this, 
as it conveys a valuable spiritual lesson. 

Reflect, my brother, that your threshing and mine 
are in God 's hands. Our chastening is not left to ser- 
vants, much less to enemies ; "we are chastened of the 
Lord !" The Great Husbandman himself personally 
bids the laborers do this and that, for they know not the 
time or the way except as divine wisdom shall direct ; 
they would turn the wheel upon the cummin, or 
attempt to thresh wheat with a staff. I have seen God's 
servants trying both these follies ; they have crushed 
the weak and tender, and they have dealt with partiality 
and softness with those who needed to be sternly re- 
buked. How roughly some ministers, some elders, 
some good men and women will go to work with timid, 
tender souls ; yet we need not fear that they will de- 
stroy the true-hearted, for, however much they may vex 
them the Lord will not leave his chosen in their hands, 
but will overrule their mistaken severity, and preserve 
his own from being destroyed thereby. How glad I am 
of this ; for there are many nowadays who would grind 
the tender ones to powder if they could ! 

As the Lord has not left us in the power of man, so 
also he has not left us in the power of the devil. Satan 
may sift us as wheat, but he shall not thresh us as 
fitches. He may blow away the chaff from us even 
with his foul breath, but he shall not have the manage- 
ment of the Lord's corn : " the Lord preserveth the 



THRESHING. 283 

righteous." Not a stroke in providence is left to 
chance ; the Lord ordains it, and arranges the time, the 
force, and the place of it. The divine decree leaves 
nothing uncertain ; the jurisdiction of supreme love 
occupies itself with the smallest events of our daily 
lives. Whether we bear the teeth of the corn-drag or 
men do ride over our heads, or we endure the gentler 
touches of the divine hand, everything is by appoint- 
ment, and the appointment is fixed by infallible wis- 
dom. Let this be a mine of comfort to the afflicted. 

Next, remark that the instruments used for cur thresh- 
ing are chosen also by the Great Husbandman. The Eastern 
farmer, according to the text, has several instruments, 
and so has our God. No form of threshing is pleasant 
to the seed which bears it ; indeed, each one seems to 
the sufferer to be peculiarly objectionable. We say, 
" I think I could bear anything but this sad trouble." 
We cry, " It was not an enemy, then I could have 
borne it," and so on. Perhaps the tender cummin fool- 
ishly fancies that the horse-hoofs would be a less terri- 
ble ordeal than the rod, and the fitches might even pre- 
fer the wheel to the staff ; but happily the matter is left 
to the choice of One who judges unerringly. What 
dost thou know about it, poor sufferer ? How canst thou 
judge of what is good for thee ? " Ah !" cries a mother, 
" I would not mind poverty ; but to lose my darling 
child is too terrible !" Another laments, "I could have 
parted with all my wealth, but to be slandered cuts me 
to the quick." There is no pleasing us in the matter 
of chastisement. When I was at school, with my 
uncle for master, it often happened that he would send 
me out to find a cane for him. It was not a very pleas- 
ant task, and I noticed that I never once succeeded in 



284 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

selecting a stick which was liked by the boy who had to 
feel it. Either it was too thin, or too stout ; and in 
consequence I was threatened by the sufferers with 
condign punishment if I did not do better next time. I 
learned from that experience never to expect God's 
children to like the particular rod with which they are 
chastened. You smile at my simile, but you may smile 
at yourself when you find yourself crying, " Any trouble 
but this, Lord. Any affliction but this." How idle it 
is to expect a pleasant trial ; for it would then, be no 
trial at all. Almost every really useful medicine is un- 
pleasant : almost all effectual surgery is painful ! no 
trial for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous, 
yet it is the right trial, and none the less right because 
it is bitter. 

Notice, too, that God not only selects the instru- 
ments, but but he chooses the place. Farmers in the East 
have large threshing-floors upon which they throw the 
sheaves of corn or barley, and upon these they turn 
horses and drags ; but near the house door I have often 
noticed in Italy a much smaller circle of hardened clay or 
cement, and here I have seen the peasants beating out 
their garden seeds in a more careful manner than would 
naturally be used toward the greater heaps upon the 
larger area. Some saints are not afflicted in the com- 
mon affairs of life, but they have peculiar sorrow in 
their innermost spirits ; they are beaten on the smaller 
and more private threshing-floor ; but the process is 
none the less effectual. How foolish are we when we 
rebel against our Lord's appointment, and speak as 
if we had a right to choose our own afflictions ! 
" Should it be according to thy mind ?" Should 
a child select the rod ? Should the grain appoint its 



THRESIiING. 



:85 



own thresher ? Are not these things to be left to a 
higher wisdom ? Some complain of the time of their 
trial ; it is hard to be crippled in youth, or to be poor 
in ao-'e, or to be widowed when your children are young. 
Yet in' all this there is wisdom. A part of the skill of 
the physician may lie, not only in writing a prescription, 
but in arranging the hours at which the medicine shall 
be taken. One draught may be most useful in the morn- 
ing, and another may be more beneficial in the evening ; 
and so the Lord knows when it is best for us to drink 
of the cup which he has prepared for us. I know a 
dear child of God who is enduring a severe trial in his 
old age, and I would fain screen him from it because 
of his feebleness, but our heavenly Father knows best, 
and" there we must leave it. The instrument of the 
threshing, the place, the measure, the time, the end, 
are all appointed by infallible love. 

It is interesting to notice in the text the limit of 
this threshing. The husbandman is zealous to beat out 
the seed, but he is careful not to break it in pieces by 
too severe a process. His wheel is not to grind, but to 
thresh ; the horses' feet are not to break, but to sepa- 
rate. He intends to get the cummin out of its husk, but 
he will not turn a heavy drag upon it utterly to smash 
it up and destroy it. In the same way the Lord has a 
measure in all his chastening. Courage, tried friend, 
you shall be afflicted as you need, but not as you de- 
serve ; tribulation shall come as you are able to bear it. 
As is' the strength such shall the affliction be ; the 
wheat may feel the wheel, but the fitches shall bear 
nothing heavier than a staff. No saint shall be tempt- 
ed beyond the proper measure, and the limit is fixed by 
a tenderness which never deals a needless stroke. 



286 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

Il is very easy to talk like this in cool blood, and 
quite another thing to remember it when the flail is 
hammering you ; yet have I personally realized this 
truth upon the bed of pain, and in the furnace of 
mental distress. I thank God at every remembrance 
of my afflictions ; I did not doubt his wisdom then, nor 
have I had any reason to question it since. Our Great 
Husbandman understands how to divide us from the 
husk, and he goes about his work in a way for which he 
deserves to be adored for ever. 

It is a pleasant thought that God's limit is one be- 
yond which trials never go — 

"If trials six be fix'd for men 
They shall not suffer seven. 
If God appoint afflictions ten 
They ne'er can be eleven." 

The old law ordained forty stripes save one, and in 
all our scourgings there always comes in that " save 
one." When the Lord multiplies our sorrows up to a 
hundred, it is because ninety-and-nine failed to effect 
his purpose ; but all the powers of earth and hell can- 
not give us one blow above the settled number. We 
shall never endure a superfluity of threshing. The 
Lord never sports with the feelings of his saints. " He 
does not afflict willingly," and so we may be sure he 
never gives an unnecessary blow. 

The wisdom of the husbandman in limiting his 
threshing is far exceeded in the wisdom of God by which 
he sets a limit to our griefs. Some escape with little 
trouble, and perhaps it is because they are frail and 
sensitive. The little garden seeds must not be beaten 
too heavily lest they be injured ; those saints who bear 



THRESHING. 287 

about with them a delicate body must not be roughly 
handled, nor shall they be. Possibly they have a feeble 
mind also, and that which others would laugh at would 
be death to them ; they shall be kept as the apple of 
the eye. 

If you are free from tribulation never ask for it ; 
that would be a great folly. I did meet with a brother 
a little while ago who said that he was much perplexed 
because he had no trouble. I said, " Do not worry 
about that ; but be happy while you may." Only a 
queer child would beg to be flogged. Certain sweet 
and shining saints are of such a gentle spirit that the 
Lord does not expose them to the same treatment as he 
metes out to others ; they do not need it, and they 
could not bear it ; why should they wish for it ? 

Others, again, are very heavily pressed ; but what 
of that if they are a superior grain, a seed of larger use- 
fulness, intended for higher purposes ? Let not such re- 
gret that they have to endure a heavier threshing since 
their use is greater. It is the bread corn that must go 
under the feet of the horseman and must feel the wheel 
of the cart ; and so the most useful have to pass 
through the sternest processes. There is not one 
among us but what would say, " I could wish that I 
w T ere Martin Luther, or that I could play as noble a part 
as he did." Yes ; but in addition to the outward perils 
of his life, the inward experiences of that remarkable 
man were such as none of us would wish to feel. He 
was frequently tormented with Satanic temptations, and 
driven to the verge of despair. At one hour he rode 
the whirlwind and the storm, master of all the world, 
and then after days of fighting with the pope and the 
devil he would go home to his bed and lie there broken- 



288 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

down and trembling. You see God's heroes only in 
the pulpit, or in other public places, you know not what 
they are before God in secret. You do not know their 
inner life ; else you might discover that the bread corn 
is bruised, and that those who are most useful in com- 
forting others have to endure frequent sorrow them- 
selves. Envy no. man ; for you do not know how he 
may have to be threshed to make him right and keep 
him so. 

Brethren, we see that our God uses discretion in 
the chastisement of his people ; let us use a loving 
prudence when we have to deal with others in that way. 
Be gentle as well as firm with your children ; and if 
you have to rebuke your brother do it very tenderly. 
Do not drive your horses over the tender seed. Recol- 
lect that the cummin is beaten out with a staff and not 
crushed out with a wheel. Take a very light rod. 
Perhaps it would be as well if you had no rod at all, 
but left that work to wiser hands. Go you and sow and 
leave your elders to thresh. 

Next let us firmly believe in God's discretion, and 
be sure that he is doing the right thing by us. Let us 
not be anxious to be screened from affliction. When 
we ask that the cup may pass from us let it be with a 
" nevertheless not as I will." Best of all, let us freely 
part with our chaff. The likeliest way to escape the 
flail is to separate from the husk as quickly as possible. 
" Come ye out from among them." Separate your- 
selves from sin and sinners, from the world and world- 
liness, and the process of threshing will all the sooner 
be completed. God make us wise in this matter ! 

III. A word or two is all we can afford upon the 



THRESHING. 289 

third head, which is that the threshing will not last 

FOREVER. 

The threshing will not last all our days even here : 
11 Bread corn is bruised, but he will not always be 
threshing it." Oh, no. " For a small moment have I 
forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I gather 
thee." " He will not always chide, neither will he keep 
his anger for ever." " Weeping may endure for a 
night, but joy cometh in the morning." Rejoice, ye 
daughters of sorrow ! Be comforted, ye sons of grief ! 
Have hope in God, for you shall yet praise him who is 
the health of your countenance. The rain does not 
always fall, nor will the clouds always return. Sorrow 
and sighing shall flee away. Threshing is not an opera- 
tion which the corn requires all the year round ; for the 
most part the flail is idle. Bless the Lord, O my soul !' 
The Lord will yet bring home his banished ones. 

Above all, tribulation will not last forever, for we 
shall soon be gone to another and better world. We 
shall soon be carried to the land where there are neither 
threshing-floors nor corn-drags. I sometimes think I 
hear the herald calling me. His trumpet sounds : " Up 
and away ! Boot and saddle ! Up and away ! Leave 
the camp and the battle, and return in triumph." The 
night is far spent with you, but the morning cometh. 
The daylight breaks above yon hills. The day is com- 
ing — the day that shall go no more down forever. 
Come, eat your bread with joy, and march onward with 
a merry heart ; for the land which floweth with milk 
and honey is but a little way before you. Until the day 
break and the shadows flee away, abide the Great 
Husbandman's will, and may the Lord glorify himself 
in you. Amen. 



WHEAT IN THE BARN. 

" Gather the wheat into my barn." — Matthew 13 : 30. 

' ' Gather the wheat into 1113' barn. ' ' Then the pur- 
pose of the Son of man will be accomplished. He sowed 
good seed, and he shall have his barn filled with it at 
the last. Be not dispirited, Christ will not be disap- 
pointed. " He shall see of the travail of his soul, and 
shall be satisfied." He went forth weeping, bearing 
precious seed, but he shall come again rejoicing, bring- 
ing his sheaves with him. 

" Gather the wheat into my barn ;" then Satan's 
policy will be unsuccessful. The enemy came and 
sowed tares among the wheat, hopeful that the false 
wheat would destroy or materially injure the true ; but 
he failed in the end, for the wheat ripened and was 
ready to be gathered. Christ's garner shall be filled ; 
the tares shall not choke the wheat. The evil one will 
be put to shame. 

In gathering in the wheat, good angels will be em- 
ployed : " the angels are the reapers." This casts 
special scorn upon the great evil angel. He sows the 
tares, and tries to destroy the harvest ; and therefore 
the good angels are brought in to celebrate his defeat, 
and to rejoice together with their Lord in the success of 
the divine husbandry. Satan will make a poor profit 
out of his meddling ; he shall be baulked in all his 



WHEAT IN THE BARN. 29 1 

efforts, and so the threat shall be fulfilled, " Upon thy 
belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat." 

By giving the angels work to do, all intelligent 
creatures, of whose existence we have information, are * 
made to take an interest in the work of grace ; whether 
for malice or for adoration, redemption excites them 
all. To all, the wonderful works of God are made 
manifest ; for these things were not done in a corner. 

We too much forget the angels. Let us not overlook 
their tender sympathy with us ; they behold the Lord re- 
joicing over our repentance, and they rejoice with him ; 
they are our watchers and the Lord's messengers of 
mercy ; they bear us up in their hands lest we dash our 
foot against a stone ; and when we come to die, they 
carry us to the bosom of our Lord. It is one of our joys 
that we have come to an innumerable company of 
angels ; let us think of them with affection. 

At this time I will keep to my text, and preach from 
it almost word by word. It begins with " but," and 

that is A WORD OF SEPARATION. 

Here note that the tares and the wheat will grow 
together until the time of harvest shall come. It is a 
great sorrow of heart to some of the wheat to be grow- 
ing side by side with tares. The ungodly are as thorns 
and briers to those who fear the Lord. How frequently 
is the sigh forced forth from the godly heart : " Woe 
is me, that I sojourn in Mesech, that I dwell in the tents 
of Kedar !" A man's foes are often found within his 
own household ; those who should have been his best 
helpers are often his worst hinderers ; their conversation 
vexes and torments him. It is of little use to try to 
escape from them, for the tares are permitted in God's 
providence to grow with the wheat, and they will do so 



292 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

until the end. Good men have emigrated to distant 
lands to found communities in which there should be 
none but saints, and, alas ! sinners h,ave sprung up in 
their own families. The attempt to weed the ungodly 
and heretical out of the settlement has led to persecution 
and other evils, and the whole plan has proved a fail- 
ure. Others have shut themselves away in hermitages 
to avoid the temptations of the vvorld, and so have 
hoped to win the victory by running away : this is not 
the way of wisdom. The word for this present is, 
" Let both grow together ;" but there will come a time 
when a final separation will be made. Then, dear 
Christian woman, your husband will never persecute 
you again. Godly sister, your brother will heap no 
more ridicule upon you. Pious workman, there will be 
no more jesting and taunting from the ungodly. That 
"but" will be an iron gate between the god-fearing 
and the godless ; then will the tares be cast into the 
fire, but the Lord of the harvest will say, " Gather the 
wheat into my barn." 

This separation must be made ; for the growing of 
the wheat and the tares together on earth has caused 
much pain and injury, and therefore it will not be con- 
tinued in a happier world. We can very well suppose 
that godly men and women might be willing that their 
unconverted children should dwell with them in heaven ; 
but it cannot be, for God will not have his cleansed 
ones defiled nor his glorified ones tried by the presence 
of the unbelieving. The tares must be taken away in 
order to the perfectness and usefulness of the wheat. 
Would you have the tares and the wheat heaped up to- 
gether in the granary in one mass ? That would be ill 
husbandry with a vengeance. They can neither of 



WHEAT IN THE BARN. 293 

them be put to appropriate use till thoroughly separated. 
Even so, mark you, the saved and the unsaved may live 
together here, but they must not live together in another 
world. The command is absolute : " Gather the tares, 
and bind them in bundles to burn them : but gather the 
wheat into my barn." Sinner, can you hope to enter 
heaven ? You never loved your mother's God, and is 
he to endure you in his heavenly courts ? You never 
trusted your father's Saviour, and yet are you to behold 
his glory for ever ? Are you to go swaggering down 
the streets of heaven, letting fall an oath, or singing a 
loose song ? Why, you know, you get tired of the 
worship of God on the Lord's day ; do you think that 
the Lord will endure unwilling worshippers in the tem- 
ple above ? The Sabbath is a wearisome day to you ; 
how can you hope to enter into the Sabbath of God ? 
You have no taste for heavenly pursuits, and these 
things would be profaned if you were permitted to par- 
take in them ; therefore that word " but" must come 
in, and you must part from the Lord's people never to 
meet again. Can you bear to think of being divided 
from godly friends for ever and ever ? 

That separation involves an awful difference of des- 
tiny. " Gather the tares in bundles to burn them." I 
do not dare to draw the picture ; but when the bundle 
is bound up there is no place for it except the fire. God 
grant that you may never know all the anguish which 
burning must mean ; but may you escape from it at 
once. It is no trifle which the Lord of love compares to 
being consumed with fire. I am quite certain that no 
words of mine can ever set forth its terror. They say that 
we speak dreadful things about the wrath to come ; but 
I am sure that we understate the case. What must the 



294 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

tender, loving, gracious Jesus have meant by the words, 
" Gather the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn 
them?" See what a wide distinction between the lot 
of the Lord's people and Satan's people. Burn the 
wheat? Oh, no; "Gather the wheat into my barn/' 
There let them be happily, safely housed for ever. Oh, 
the infinite distance between heaven and hell! — the 
harps and the angels, and the wailing and gnashing of 
teeth ! Who can ever measure the width of that gulf 
which divides the glorified saint, white-robed and 
crowned with immortality, from the soul which is driven 
forever away from the presence of God, and from the 
glory of his power? It is a dreadful "but'' — that 
" but " of separation. I pray you, remember that it 
will interpose between brother and brother — between 
mother and child — between husband and wife. " One 
shall be taken and the other left." And when that 
sword shall descend to divide, there shall never be 
any after union. The separation is eternal. There is 
no hope or possibility of change in the world to come. 

But, says one, "that dreadful 'but'/ Why must 
there be such a difference?" The answer is, Because 
there always was a difference. The wheat was sown by 
the Son of man ; the false wheat was sown by the 
enemy. There was always a difference in character — 
the wheat was good, the tares were evil. This difference 
did not appear at first, but it became more and more 
apparent as the wheat ripened, and as the tares ripened 
too. They were totally different plants ; and so a re- 
generate person and an unregenerate person are alto- 
gether different beings. I have heard an unregenerate 
man say that he is quite as good as the godly man ; but 
in so boasting he betrayed his pride. Surely there is as 



WHEAT IN THE BARN. 295 

great a difference in God's sight between the unsaved 
and the believer as between darkness and light, or be- 
tween the dead and the living. There is in the one a life 
which there is not in. the other, and the difference is 
vital and radical. Oh, that you may never trifle with 
this essential matter, but be really the wheat of the 
Lord ! It is vain to have the name of wheat, we must 
have the nature of wheat. God will not be mocked ; 
he will not be pleased by our calling ourselves Chris- 
tians while we are not so. Be not satisfied with church 
membership ; but seek after membership with Christ. 
Do not talk about faith, but exercise it. Do not boast 
of experience, but possess it. Be not like the wheat, 
but be the wheat. No shams and imitations will stand 
in the last great day ; that terrible " but " will roll as 
a sea of fire between the true and the false. Oh Holy 
Spirit ! let each of us be found transformed by thy power. 

II. The second word of our text is "gather" — 
that is a word of congregation. What a blessed thing 
this gathering is ! I feel it a great pleasure to gather 
multitudes together to hear the gospel ; and is it not a 
joy to see a house full of people, on week-days and Sab- 
bath-days, who are willing to leave their homes and to 
come considerable distances to listen to the gospel ? It 
is a great thing to gather people together for that ; 
but the gathering of the wheat into the barn is a far 
more wonderful business. Gathering is in itself better 
than scattering, and I pray that the Lord Jesus may 
ever exercise his attracting power in this place ; for he 
is no Divider, but " unto him shall the gathering of the 
people be." Has he not said, " I, if I be lifted up from 
the earth, will draw all men unto me" ? 



296 TALKS TO • FARMERS. 

Observe, that the congregation mentioned in our 
text is selected and assembled by skilled gatherers : 
" The angels are the reapers." Ministers could not do 
it, for they do not know all the Lord's wheat, and they 
are apt to make mistakes — some by too great leniency, 
and others by excessive severity. Our poor judgments 
occasionally shut out saints, and often shut in sinners. 
The angels will know their Master's property. They 
know each saint, for they were present at his birthday. 
Angels know when sinners repent, and they never for- 
get the persons of the penitents. They have witnessed 
the lives of those who have believed, and have helped 
them in their spiritual battles, and so they know them. 
Yes, angels by a holy instinct discern the Father's chil- 
dren, and are not to be deceived. They will not fail to 
gather all the wheat and to leave out every tare. 

But they are gathered under a very stringent regu- 
lation ; for, first of all, according to the parable, the 
tares, the false wheat, have been taken out, and then 
the angelic reapers gather nothing but the wheat. The 
seed of the serpent, fathered by Satan, is thus separated 
from the seed of the kingdom, owned by Jesus, the prom- 
ised deliverer. This is the one distinction ; and no 
other is taken into consideration. If the most amiable 
unconverted persons could stand in the ranks with the 
saints, the angels would not bear them to heaven, for 
the mandate is, " Gather the wheat." Could the most 
honest man be found standing in the centre of the 
church, with all the members round about him, and 
with all the ministers entreating that he might be 
spared, yet if he were not a believer he could not be 
carried into the divine garner. There is no help for it. 
The angels have no choice in the matter ; the peremp- 



WHEAT IN THE BARN. 297 

tory command is, "Gather the wheat," and they must 
gather none else. 

It will be a gathering from very great distances. 
Some of the wheat ripens in the South Sea Islands, in 
China, and in Japan. Some flourishes in France, broad 
acres grow in the United States ; there is scarce a land 
without a portion of the good grain. Where all God's 
wheat grows I cannot tell. There is a remnant, accord- 
ing to the election of grace, among every nation and 
people ; but the angels will gather all the good grain 
to the same garner. 

" Gather the wheat." The saints will be found in 
all ranks of society. The angels will bring in a few 
ears from palaces, and great armfuls from cottages ! 
Many will be collected from the lowly cottages of our 
villages and hamlets, and others will be upraised from 
the back slums of our great cities to the metropolis of 
God. From the darkest places angels will bring those 
children of sweetness and light who seldom beheld the 
sun, and yet were pure in heart and saw their God. 
The hidden and obscure shall be brought into the light, 
for the Lord knoweth them that are his, and his har- 
vestmen will not miss them. 

To me it is a charming thought that they will come 
from all the ages. Let us hope that our first father 
Adam will be there, and mother Eve, following in the 
footsteps of their dear son Abel, and trusting in the 
same sacrifice. We shall met Abraham, and Isaac, and 
Jacob, and Moses, and David, and Daniel, and all the 
saints made perfect. What a joy to see the apostles, 
martyrs, and reformers ! I long to see Luther, and 
Calvin, and Bunyan, and Whitefield. I like the rhyme 
of good old father Ryland : 



298 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

" They all shall be there, the great and the small, 
Poor I shall shake hands with the blessed St. Paul." 

I do not know how that will be, but I have not much 
doubt that we shall have fellowship with all the saints 
of every age in the general assembly and church of the 
firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. 

No matter when or where the wheat grew, it shall 
be gathered into the one barn ; gathered never to be 
scattered ; gathered out of all divisions of the visible 
church, never to be divided again. They grew in differ- 
ent fields. Some flourished on the hillside where Epis- 
copalians grow in all their glory, and others in the 
lowlier soil, where Baptists multiply, and Methodists 
flourish ; but once the wheat is in the barn none can 
tell in which field the ears grew. Then, indeed, shall 
the Master's prayer have a glorious answer — " That 
they all may be one." All our errors removed and our 
mistakes corrected and forgiven, the one Lord, the one 
faith, and the one baptism will be known of us all, and 
there will be no more vexings and envyings. What a 
blessed gathering it will be ! What a meeting ! The 
elect of God, the elite of all the centuries, of whom the 
world was not worthy. I should not like to be away. 
If there were no hell, it would be hell enough to me to 
be shut out of such heavenly society. If there were no 
weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth, it would be 
dreadful enough to miss the presence of the Lord, and 
the joy of praising him forever, and the bliss of meet- 
ing with all the noblest beings that ever lived. Amid 
the needful controversies of the age, I, who have been 
doomed to seem a man of strife, sigh for the blessed 
rest wherein all spiritual minds shall blend in eternal 
accord before the throne of God and of the Lamb. Oh 



WHEAT IN THE BARN. 299 

that we were all right, that we might be all happily 
united in one spirit ! 

In the text there is next A word of designation. 
I have already trespassed upon that domain. " Gather 
the wheat ." Nothing but " the wheat " must be placed 
in the Lord's homestead. Lend me your hearts while 
I urge you to a searching examination for a minute 
or two. The wheat was sown of the Lord. Are you 
sown of the Lord ? Friend, if you have any religion, 
how did you get it ? Was it self-sown ? If so, it is 
good for nothing. The true wheat was sown by the Son 
of man. Are you sown of the Lord ? Did the Spirit of 
God drop eternal life into your bosom ? Did it come 
from that dear hand which was nailed to the cross ? Is 
Jesus your life ? Does your life begin and end with 
him ? If so, it is well. 

The wheat sown of the Lord is also the object of 
the Lord's care. Wheat needs a deal of attention. The 
farmer would get nothing from it if he did not watch it 
carefully. Are you under the Lord's care ? Does he 
keep you ? Is that word true to your soul, " I the Lord 
do keep it ; I will water it ever} r moment : lest any hunt 
it, I will keep it night and day ? " Do you experience 
such keeping ? Make an honest answer, as you love 
your soul. 

Next, wheat is a useful thing, a gift from God for 
the life of men. The false wheat was of no good to 
anybody ; it could only be eaten of swine, and then it 
made them stagger like drunken men. Are you one of 
those who are wholesome in society — who are like bread 
to the world, so that if men receive you and your exam- 
ple and your teaching they will be blessed thereby ? 



300 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

Judge yourselves whether ye are good or evil in life and 
influence. 

" Gather the wheat." You know that God must 
put the goodness, the grace, the solidity, and the use- 
fulness into you, or else you will never be wheat fit for 
angelic gathering. One thing is true of the wheat — 
that it is the most dependent of. all plants. I have 
never heard of a field of wheat which sprang up, and 
grew, and ripened without a husbandman's care. Some 
ears may appear after a harvest when the corn has 
shaled out ; but I have never heard of plains in America 
or elsewhere covered with unsown wheat. No, no. 
There is no wheat where there is no man, and there is 
no grace where there is no Christ. We owe our very 
existence to the Father, who is the husbandman. 

Yet, dependent as it is, wheat stands in the front 
rank of honor and esteem ; and so do the godly in the 
judgment of all who are of understanding heart. We 
are nothing without Christ ; but with him we are full 
of honor. Oh, to be among those by whom the world 
is preserved, the excellent of the earth in whom the 
saints delight ; God forbid we should be among the 
base and worthless tares ! 

Our last head, upon which also I will speak briefly, 
is a word of destination. " Gather the wheat into my 
barn." The process of gathering in the wheat will be 
completed at the day of judgment, but it is going on 
every day. From hour to hour saints are gathered ; 
they are going heavenward even now. I am so glad to 
hear as a regular thing that the departed ones from my 
own dear church have such joy in being harvested. 
Glory be to God, our people die well. The best thing 



WHEAT IN THE BARN. 301 

is to live well, but we are greatly gladdened to hear 
that the brethren die well ; for, full often, that is the 
most telling witness for vital godliness. Men of the 
world feel the power of triumphant deaths. 

Every hour the saints are being gathered into the 
barn. That is where they want to be. We feel no pain 
at the news of ingathering, for we wish to be safely 
stored up by our Lord. If the wheat that is in the field 
could speak, every ear would say, " The ultimatum for 
which we are living and growing is the barn, the gran- 
ary." For this the frosty night ; for this the sunny 
day ; for this the dew and the rain ; and for this every- 
thing. Every process with the wheat is tending tow- 
ard the granary. So is it with us ; everything is 
working toward heaven — toward the gathering place 
— toward the congregation of the righteous — toward 
the vision of our Redeemer's face. Our death will 
cause no jar in our life-music ; it will involve no pause 
or even discord; it is part of a programme, the crown- 
ing of our whole history. 

To the wheat the barn is the place of security. It 
dreads no mildew there ; it fears no frost, no heat, no 
drought, no wet, when once in the barn. All its 
growth-perils are past. It has reached its perfection. 
It has rewarded the labor of the husbandman, and it is 
housed. Oh, long-expected day, begin ! Oh, brethren, 
what a blessing it will be when you and I shall have 
come to our maturity, and Christ shall see in us the 
travail of his soul. 

I delight to think of heaven as his barn ; his barn, 
what must that be ? It is but the poverty of language 
that such an expression has to be used at all concerning 
the home of our Father, the dwelling of Jesus. Heaven 



302 TALKS TO FARMERS. 

is the palace of the King, but, so far, to us a barn, be- 
cause it is the place of security, the place of rest for 
ever. It is the homestead of Christ to which we shall 
be carried, and for this we are ripening. It is to be 
thought of with ecstatic joy ; for the gathering into the 
barn involves a harvest home, and I have never heard 
of men sitting down to cry over an earthly harvest 
home, nor of their following the sheaves with tears. 
Nay, they clap their hands, they dance for joy, and 
shout right lustily. Let us do something like that con- 
cerning those who are already housed. With grave, 
sweet melodies let us sing around their tombs. Let us 
feel that, surely, the bitterness of death is passed. 
When we remember their glory, we may rejoice like the 
travailing woman when her child is born, who " re- 
membereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is 
born into the world." Another soul begins to sing in 
heaven ; why do you weep, O heirs of immortality ? Is 
the eternal happiness of the righteous the birth which 
comes of their death-pangs ? Then happy are they who 
die. Is glory the end and outcome of that which fills 
our home with mourning ? If so, thank God for be- 
reavements ; thank God for saddest severings. He has 
promoted our dear ones to the skies ! He has blessed 
them beyond all that we could ask or even think ; he 
has taken them out of this weary world to lie in his own 
bosom for ever. Blessed be his name if it were for 
nothing else but this. Would you keep your old father 
here, full of pain, and broken down with feebleness ? 
Would you shut him out of glory ? Would you detain 
your dear wife here with all her suffering ? Would you 
hold back your husband from the crown immortal ? 
Could you wish your child to descend to earth again 



WHEAT IN THE BARN. 303 

from the bliss which now surrounds her ? No, no. We 
wish to be going home ourselves to the heavenly 
Father's house and its many mansions ; but concerning 
the departed we rejoice before the Lord as with the joy 
of harvest. " Wherefore comfort one another with 
these words." 



